Moon Dancers
by HydraDrawer
Summary: Naru Uzumaki doesn't believe in fate. However, after a accidental midnight meeting, perhaps, just this one time, it actually was fate that they met. / Neji Hyuuga hates the main family of his clan. His life is repetitive. That is, until he meets Naru Uzumaki under the full moon. And fell for her. Things are definitely changing.
1. Prologue

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" His secretary came running in. The Yondaime looked up from his mountain of paperwork, alarmed, as the woman continued, "Kushina-sama has just gone into labor!"

He nodded once to her, and quickly made use of his signature technique, Hiraishin, to get to the hospital. People startled when he suddenly appeared in the hospital's lobby. He strode straight to the desk, demanding his fiancée's room number. "I need the room number for Kushina Uzumaki."

"Right away sir. Her room is 629, on floor three, in the maternity section." The Yellow Flash didn't waste a second, speeding to go support his future wife.

"625, 627, yes, 629!" He halted there and tried to calm himself. It didn't work. He was an orphan, so he had never had a family to call his own. When Kushina came into his life, he wore to himself that he would never let her go.

And he stayed true to his word. They had started out as strangers, then acquaintances, friends, girlfriend and boyfriend, and finally they were engaged. Soon they would be husband and wife, and yet before that, father and mother. It made him giddy just to think about it.

There was a grunt of pain within the room, and the Hokage barged in. Kushina was lying on a bed, her hands gripping the sharp white sheets. She groaned again, and he was at her side immediately.

"Minato, you came." She smiled weakly at him. He sat down in the conveniently placed chair next to the bed and took her hand. "Of course I'd come. You and our daughter are much more important than my work." Kushina murmured, much more subdued than her regular self, "You know, Minato, we never picked out a name for her."

"Hmm, well, what do you think would be a good name for the daughter of the Yellow Flash and the Red Hot Habanero?" Minato questioned.

Suddenly, Kushina gasped. "I know," she grinned. "Do you remember your sensei Jiraiya's first book? The main character's name is Naruto."

"I love that name, Kushi-chan, I really do, but that's a boyish name." He secretly wondered if she had gone loopy from the stress of childbirth.

She smacked his arm. "Idiot, I know that. I was thinking we could shorten it to Naru. Oh, and don't believe that I can't see what you're thinking, Minato. You're thinking I've gone nuts."

Minato's jaw dropped to the floor. What, his own thoughts didn't belong to him anymore? He hung his head in defeat and began to pout in the corner of the hospital room.

Kushina laughed, before gasping. The baby was ready, she knew. "Get the doctors, Minato! Naru's coming!" He gaped at her for a moment, and then ran out into the hall like a chicken with its head cut off. "Doctors, my fiancée is having a baby RIGHT NOW AND SHE NEEDS YOU!"

Suddenly doctors and nurses appeared and shoved past him into the room. They hadn't come because of Minato's yelling, but because Kushina had pressed a button by her head she was supposed to use when she needed help.

Minato tried to get back in, but one of the nurses came out and blocked him. "I'm sorry, sir, but you can't come in the room."

He stared at the nurse before muttering under his breath. He started to pace the length of the hallway, but never went far from his lover's room. The nurse slipped back into the hospital room. At one point he felt a huge surge of power, but figured it was the doctors helping Kushina.

Two hours later, one of the doctors came out and motioned for Minato to come in. Kushina lay panting on the bed, but looked so happy. In her arms she cradled a small baby. The doctors and nurses filed out of the room to give the new family privacy.

Minato's eyes grew soft as he watched his newborn daughter smile at her Kaa-chan. "Minato, I have to tell you something," Kushina murmured. The Fourth Hokage grinned at her and nodded for her to continue.

She sighed before continuing. "I-I had to release the Kyuubi during childbirth. If I hadn't, Naru, you, and everybody else in the village, including me, would have died immediately. The Kitsune is probably somewhere in Fire Country, and I bet it'll be coming to attack the village within about 12 hours. It holds a deep hatred for Konoha. I hope I gave the village a fighting chance, at least."

Minato's face had been slowly contorting in horror but turned into firm resolve. "Kushina, I understand. I have to go now, to prepare for the attack. I love you. Both of you," he declared, looking at his newborn baby. He kissed Kushina and Naru's heads, before performing the Hiraishin back to his office.

He ordered his assistant to call all the shinobi currently in the village to the battle/war room. Within minutes, all ninja, except the ninja out on missions and hospitalized ninja, had assembled before their leader.

"I have received news from one of sources that the Kyuubi no Kitsune will be attacking within 12 hours." Waves of shock rippled through the ranks, but Minato raised his hand to silence them. "I want all of you to go and prepare yourselves for battle. It will be an S-ranked battle, if not above that. Genin, you will be escorting civilians, children, and hospitalized people to the emergency barracks. You must protect them and stay with them. Chuunins, Special Jounins, Jounins, and ANBU, your job is to fight the Kyuubi. Medics, I want half of you to be working on the field, and the other half staying with the civilians and hospitalized people."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" the assembled ninja replied. The Yellow Flash dismissed them and returned to his office. He had to work on a special technique.

He knew that bijuu couldn't be destroyed, so he had come up with a new plan. He was going to seal it away. But, no simple, non-living object could hold the Kyuubi, at least not for long. So, he would have to seal it in a human.

Grown-ups were not an option, because their chakra pathways had already developed and the Kyuubi's chakra would most likely overload their pathways, causing them to die and the Kyuubi to be set free again. His only option was a newborn baby. As Hokage, he could not bear to ask anyone to give their baby to him to seal the Kyuubi in.

He would use Naru.

Minato didn't want to use Naru, but she was his only choice. He knew Kushina would be devastated. Her worst nightmare was for Naru to become a Jinchuuriki like her.

Then he realized that Kushina would have to raise Naru on her own. He didn't have the power to complete the seal. Even if he could, he would die.

His plan was to summon the Shinigami, or death god, to seal the Kyuubi at the price of his life. That would make his daughter a Jinchuuriki. He saw no other option.

He spent the last few hours of his life alone in his silent office, working on the seal that would save him. Not a soul dared interrupt him.

The Kyuubi had finally arrived, after hours of agonizing anticipation. It had come 9 hours after Kushina announced the problem, and the ninja of Konoha were as ready as they could be with the time given.

Minato finished the seal, and had been memorizing the hand seals needed to summon the Shinigami. When the Kyuubi arrived and he got wind of it, he used the Hiraishin to get to the hospital room Kushina was currently stationed in.

He stepped quietly into the room to see Kushina snuggled up with Naru, in a deep sleep. Minato shed a tear, knowing it would be the last time he would see his beautiful lover. He leaned down and just barely placed his lips on her forehead.  
"I love you, Kushina. Take care of Naru for me."

He carefully scooped up the little one and made his way out of the room. As soon as the door closed, Kushina's eyes snapped open, glistening with tears, of both annoyance and extreme sadness. Did he think she would just sit there without helping him? Sleeping through the entire attack? There was absolutely no way.

She knew she was too weak to survive if she fought it. But Kushina also knew Minato, being the idiot he was, would need her help, as he always did. Naru would be a strong child, she knew. She would find her way in life, even if she didn't have parents to guide her.

Kushina sighed and shunshined to the battlefield.

Minato Hiraishined to the top of the hospital building. It was an amazing night, stars visible, clear sky, slight breeze. The full moon was shining brighter than he had ever seen before.

He startled, thinking of what Kushina had told him about 6 months into the pregnancy. She was part of the Uzumaki clan. When a baby was born, if it was of Uzumaki blood, it was given powers, or not, depending on when it was born.

If the baby was born on a night/day of a new moon, it was like any other baby of the Uzumaki clan. If it was born on a half moon, it was given a special ability to control the element water.

It was very, very, very rare for a child to be born on a full moon. However, when one was born on a full moon, the baby was born with the ability to control water, dance beautifully, and control the moon's power to some extent.

The other, minor thing Kushina had muttered was that if such a child was born, another child of the opposite gender was born on a full moon as well, but could be ranging in birth dates. They would meet around the age of nine, and the pair would be perfect for each other. The other child would also be born with the same powers as the Uzumaki-born child. They would not be able to unlock their moon powers until they met each other.

Minato had completely exploded at that. No boy was going to be allowed within ten feet of his baby girl. Then Kushina had calmed him, saying that it was possible that their child would not be born on a full moon. She was just warning him of the possibility.

He had calmed down at that statement, and as payment for going crazy on her, Kushina made him take her out to dinner at Ichiraku's. His wallet had never been so flat. While grieving for his wallet, the issue had completely left his mind, and he hadn't thought of it again until just now.

He looked serenely up at the moon and sighed. "I guess at least I know my little girl will be happy, even if I'm not the one making her happy."

Minato summoned Gamabunta, explained the situation to the Toad Boss, and headed off towards the Kitsune. "Are you sure about this, gaki?" the toad asked. Minato looked down at his alarmed but silent daughter. She looked up at him, full of trust.

"Yes, 'Bunta. It's the only way. Thank you, and goodbye, old friend." Minato replied as they landed directly in front of the Kitsune. He began doing seals, but there wasn't enough time to complete them. Though he was the Fourth Hokage, even he couldn't do over sixty seals in less than a minute.

Suddenly the Kitsune was distracted by something coming fast from behind it. There was a wall of waters speeding towards the Kitsune, almost as high as the beast. Minato got a sinking feeling in his chest.

Kushina had been born on a half moon, and she had incredible mastery of water. Only she could do such a thing. He knew she was buying him time to finish his plan.

As soon as his hands finished their long dance, he summoned the Shinigami. The sudden, almost suffocating feeling of death confirmed to him he was successful. The Kyuubi lifted up a huge paw to swat away the water and hit the individual controlling it so hard she hit the ground and caused a crater to form around her. Many of her bones were obviously broken, and she didn't get back up. There was no sign of life existing in her body.

Tears streamed down Minato's face, and he had a huge choking feeling in his chest and throat. On autopilot, he painted the seal on his daughter's bare stomach and placed his hand on top of her tummy. He yelled out two words. "Shiki Fuuin!"

At this, the world seemed to stop. His daughters' large blue eyes were wide open with pain and the beginnings of a tear. His fiancée's body was still lying motionless on the ground. Gamabunta was just about to go back to his home. Kakashi was at the edge of the battlefield, reaching out his hand and screaming his sensei's name, tears streaming down his face, matching a devastated expression. Jiraiya had just arrived, a shocked look on his face, no trace of his normally goofy self. The Third, dressed in his battle clothes, appeared to have aged ten years. The Kyuubi was gone.

After he had seen all this, the world sped up. Gamabunta disappeared in a puff of smoke. Minato clutched his daughter closer to him, protecting her with his body. Just before they hit the ground, he whispered his final words with a sad smile. "I love you, my daughter. I'm so sorry, Naru. Please forgive me."

As soon as they came in contact with the cold, hard ground, Minato's vision went black, and he drifted off into the beckoning darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: Midnight Meeting

Authors Note: Hey guys! Sorry about not putting anything on the Prologue, but I couldn't figure out how to change it…wow that's embarrassing. Anyways, I wanted to thank all of you for giving this fanfic a chance. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own the world of Naruto, sadly, I don't.

Nine years later

It was close to midnight. The full moon shone brightly upon the ninja nations. Konoha seemed to receive most of the moonlight, however.

This was because something very, very special was about to occur. Something that would rock the ninja nations to their cores. It did not have the most glorious beginning, though.

Naru Uzumaki jumped through the trees of Training Ground 9. For some reason, she had woken up in the middle of the night, feeling an insane urge to go out and explore Konoha. She had no idea where her feet were taking her, but she trusted her instincts. They had never led her astray before.

Naru had been alone for as long as she could remember. The orphanage was but a vague memory, as she had been kicked out by the tender age of four, but as far as she could remember, the people there were horrible to her. Luckily, the Third Hokage had found her on the steps of an old building, and had taken her in.

Her life had finally been looking up. She had a loving grandfather sort of relationship with the man. He had taken care of her until she hit eight, and the Old Man, as she affectionately called him, decided she should get used to living on her own to make her a better ninja.

He dropped by every day for tea, but it still felt weird to her, not having people bustling around her and sitting in the Old Man's office for hours everyday. Her apartment was small, but the perfect size for one, maybe two people. The best part of her living arrangement was the view from her living room. It had an absolutely stunning view of the Hokage Mountain, Naru's favorite place to go to just sit and think.

Just then, a bright ray of moonlight shone down on her. She had reached a clearing, which seemed pretty normal, until she saw the lake. It was sitting smack dab in the middle of the clearing. Sure, there were other lakes in Konoha, but none seemed as beautiful as this one. It had an ethereal look and feel to it, and the moonlight hit it just so.

Naru's face changed from a look of shock to a small, gentle smile. It appeared as though no one had ever been here before. The clearing would be her new spot, her little getaway from the rest of the world.

Naru's feet carried her to the edge of the blue water. Ever since she was little, she had been able to control water, simply commanding it with a wave or twirl of her body. She also had a particular affinity for dancing. No one else except the Sandaime knew, but she loved doing it.

Her feet just seemed to glide across anything they touched when she danced, and her arms were always graceful. She was simply able to connect with dancing, and it was almost as easy as breathing.

Naru's love of dancing transferred to her daily life, too, even if she didn't know it. She moved with grace, sat with poise, and was skinny like a dancer. The only thing about her body that didn't hint that she was a dancer was her height. She was a little on the short side.

Naru had one of those crazy, yet genius ideas she was prone to having once in awhile. What if she combined those two things? What if she tried dancing on water?

Tentatively, Naru stepped out onto the sparkling water. It held her steady, just like ground. Naru tensed up so fractionally that it was unnoticeable to an untrained eye. Then she released her body, simply dancing whatever came to mind.

Naru was completely relaxed, totally at peace. Her eyes slowly closed, and that somehow increased her fluidity and grace. She smiled, a beautiful, sincere smile she reserved only for dancing. Naru unconsciously shut down all sensors of the outside world she had developed.

Neji leaped through the trees of Training Ground 9. He had woken up suddenly in his bed within the Hyuuga compound, and was so unexplainably startled he decided to go for a walk. Walks always calmed him down, especially when he went for one in the night.

Many times he tended to wander towards a water source, such as a stream or pond. Almost always there was a bit of moonlight that seemed to be able to find him wherever he was.

It was in those times he was able to truly let go and be himself. Neji's biggest secret was comprised of two things: that he could control water effortlessly and that he loved to dance. He had learned his lesson when he had shown his father the water he could control, and his father immediately told him to keep it a secret and to only use it in emergencies.

Then he had been marked with the curse seal when his cousin, Hinata, born of the main family, turned three. That made him rather bitter towards the main family.

His bitterness had turned into hatred when he found out his father was killed. Neji's father had been sacrificed because of his twin brother, Hiashi. Hiashi had killed a cloud ninja to protect his heir, Hinata, from being kidnapped, and the cloud village demanded payment for the life of the ninja in the form of Hyuuga Hiashi. Hizashi took his brother's place, because it was the duty of the branch family to be servants to the main family.

He had found comfort in his walks, so that was what Neji was doing. However, he had never been here before, so he made sure to remember his steps. Soon he came to a clearing, with a lake in the middle of it. The moonlight hit it just so, making it appear magical.

Just as he was thinking of stepping out of the trees to get closer to the lake, a figure stepped out of the trees on the other side. He activated his Byakugan. It was obviously a female, probably around his age, which was ten.

She seemed to glide to the edge of the lake. Then, after taking a moment to think, she hesitantly reached out a foot to test the water. Surprisingly, the water held her like ground, and there was no hint of chakra usage in her legs.

Then, once in the middle, she tensed up a fractionally small amount. Anyone else would have missed it. But Neji, being an expert dancer himself, was able to notice the small movement.

The female figure relaxed completely and began to dance like nothing he had ever seen before. No one had ever impressed him like this, been able to catch his attention and hold it while dancing.

After watching her for a few minutes, Neji, on a reckless whim unlike him, decided to join her.

She didn't even seem to register his presence on the lake. She was too far gone. Now that Neji had come closer, he was able to take in more of her features. Waist length wavy blonde hair, the most beautiful smile he had ever witnessed, nimble feet, graceful body, and she came up to about his chin.

He began adjusting to her dancing, trying to compliment her. Neji greatly admired her control over the water and her incredible, unexplainable dancing.

As the dance slowed to an end, she opened her shocking blue eyes, taking in the white eyes, long dark brown hair, white/gray clothes, and the height of the person in front of her. Stumbling back, she screamed, "Who are you? How did you find this place? Why were you so close to me?" in rapid-fire succession.

Neji raised his hands in surrender. "I am Hyuuga Neji. I simply discovered this place while I was on a walk. I was both admiring your dancing and dancing with you."

Naru calmed down some, but still put herself on guard. She took a deep breath and let it out in a big whoosh. "Okay, I believe you." She grinned mischievously at him.

"You know what? You're actually a pretty good dancer, Neji. What would you say to showing off your skills a bit for me?"

Neji smirked. "I would be simply delighted," he said. "Shall I start with ballroom dancing?"

Naru nodded. Neji continued, "Surely you know I have to have a partner for that?" He extended his hand towards her.

Naru blushed a small bit. "Alright," she replied. Hesitantly, she stepped forward and took his hand. Neji gently guided her towards the middle of the lake and they began to dance.

Each realized the other was fantastically good. Even though they had only just met, it seemed as though they had been partners for years. To put it quite simply, they just clicked.

Taking a quick glance at the moon, Naru sighed. It had been at least two, maybe three hours since she met Neji, and she had to go to the Academy later this morning.

She stopped whirling abruptly. Neji, who had his arm out, ready for the next move, stared at her. "I'm sorry, Neji. I don't want to leave, but I must. I have to go to the Academy in the morning, unfortunately," she said, not looking at him.

Neji straightened up, and although he was disappointed, he said cordially, "That is quite alright. I also have school in the morning. Will I see you again?"

Naru smiled gently at him. "Maybe," she murmured. "I would like that very much, Neji."

He took a risk and walked briskly over to Naru. Taking a swift peek at her surprised face, he took her hand. Bowing down to her, Neji kissed her hand softly. "Until then," he whispered.

Naru gave him a brilliant smile before disappearing into the trees on the side of the lake she came from. Hosting a goofy, happy look on his face, Neji let out a deep sigh of contentment before he too headed home. His last thought before he fell asleep in his bed was, 'That was a VERY interesting walk.'

For the next week, they did not see each other again, as neither was brave enough to venture back to the clearing. Naru went on with her life, pretending nothing had happened, but he was constantly occupying her mind. She wondered if she would ever see him again, even though the chances were slim. The Hokage, coming by on his daily afternoon visits, often noticed her staring into space for minutes at a time.

Neji thought about her as well. Even though he knew she went to the Academy, he never saw her there, although he was enlisted in the school too.

Eventually, Naru decided to go back to the clearing. If he wasn't there, she would make every effort to forget about him completely.

Finally, Neji made the decision to go back to the lake. If she didn't appear, he would try his best to forget her, as she was affecting him too much.

Authors Note Again: Okay, so since I posted two chapters in two days, I'm probably not going to update again for a little while. I have Chapter 2 almost ready to go, and Chapter 3 is a work in progress, but I want to have at least started on Chapter 4 before I post 2. Thank you all and I hope you liked it! Please review!


	3. Chapter 2: We Meet Again

Authors Note: Hey peeps! This is the second chapter, as I guess you guys already know. Um, I don't have much else to say except to enjoy!

At the end of the week, Neji found himself heading back to the clearing. He smiled softly, replaying his previous encounter with Naru in his head. Realizing he was just about at the edge of the clearing, Neji slowed down and made sure to tread carefully and softly, so he wouldn't make much noise. Once he got to the very beginning of the lake clearing, he settled down in the thick denseness of the trees to wait.

Naru's bare feet slapped against the cold wood of trees once again. She had left the house in only her nightgown, which went down to her mid-calf. Breathing in the crisp air of the night, she sighed. Hopefully, whether he was there or not, coming to the lake would solve her problem.

Stepping out into the lake clearing, she steadily moved towards the center. Reaching the lakeside, she gracefully extended one foot to test the water. It supported her weight, as she expected.

Tiptoeing onto the water, Naru smiled, once again in her element. Then she lifted her arms up, got into a pose with an imaginary partner, and began ballroom dancing.

Neji sucked in his breath sharply when he saw her. She had taken on an ethereal appearance in the nightgown, enhanced by the moonlight shining down upon her. When she began dancing, he smiled. Time for him to join in.

Effortlessly, he slipped into the man's part of the dance. Naru had felt him when he approached, so she wasn't quite as startled, but she still gave a slight start.

Neji gave a rare smile, showing off white teeth. "Good evening, Miss Naru. May I inquire why you are out so late?"

Naru smiled back at him. "And to you, Mister Neji. First, may I ask that we not be so formal with each other? It's so tiring for me," she replied, looking away sheepishly. "I was out simply to clear my mind, and maybe to meet someone. You?"

"I was out for the same reasons. What a coincidence."

"Well, tell me about yourself. Likes, dislikes, so on," Naru said to break the little ice remaining. "I have a strange feeling that we are going to get to know each other very well."

Neji smirked, before revealing the things about him she requested. "I have the same feeling. I like dancing, the moon, midnight walks, and water. I dislike the Hyuuga main family, especially the head and his heir, idiots, and annoying people. In my free time, I either train or practice my dancing. Now, you tell me about yourself."

"I like ramen, Hokage-jiji, dancing, the moon, and training. I dislike perverts, Sasuke Uchiha, and people who dislike ramen. My hobbies include dancing and training." Naru smiled at him. Then she got one of her crazy genius ideas. "I think we should meet up here every night at like midnight. Just to hang out, dance, maybe train and have a spar once in awhile. That sort of thing. To be honest, I don't have many friends, and I have a feeling you're not exactly social. Let's keep it a secret, though, and nobody will know but the two of us."

Neji felt a pleasant feeling rise up inside him. It was warm and he didn't know what it was, but he did know he never wanted to let it go. She actually wanted to get to know him better. "I like that idea, Naru. Same time tomorrow night, I assume?"

Naru shined a brilliant smile at him. "Sounds great to me." Then they both left and with a last goodbye, went their separate ways.

The next six months went brilliantly for the duo. They faithfully met up every night, and got to know each other very well. The two were comfortable with each other, and each could tell the other almost everything. True to their word, both kept their little midnight adventures private, and no one found out.

At some point, they had felt particularly adventurous, and made a plan for Neji to come over to Naru's place for lunch, after the Hokage left. Naru had been a mess for the entire day, cleaning up her insanely messy apartment to make it appear presentable.

It had gone rather well in Naru's opinion. She had served a homemade dish, which instantly became a hit with Neji. After the meal, they hung out at her place for a few hours before Neji had to go back to the Hyuuga compound.

Later, after their brave little trial run, Neji and Naru were brave enough to take a picnic lunch to the top of the Hokage Mountain. They also ventured out to other places, such as one of the local dango stands and Ichiraku. Each had a wonderful time with the other.

Before that all occurred, however, they had had to create secret aliases, just in case they were suspected or found out. After all, a Hyuuga, main or branch, couldn't be seen fraternizing with the village pariah.

Their disguises really were brilliant. It had taken them two or three months to construct them. Naru was the one who had suggested that they create something using water, as both could control the element effortlessly.

Neji had taken the half-baked idea and cooked it a bit more. He had thrown out the hypothesis that if they combined their chakra with the water, then they might be able to manipulate it even further.

Naru added the finishing touches to it. Her brainstorm was that they could cover themselves with a cloak of water, and then cover that layer with chakra. If they did that, then they could manage the water's appearance.

It had taken them a month to figure that out, with many errors and a few times they almost gave up. Somehow, after the second month mark, Naru managed it, and she taught Neji. After that, it was only a matter of practicing and refining it.

Neji, when transformed, was Ryuu Kaiko. Ryuu had brown hair and tan skin, a chuunin with a scar up his arm. He was 'dating' the lovely Yuki Yakiboshi.

Naru, also known as Yuki Yakiboshi, had white-blonde waist-length hair and pale skin, a chuunin like Ryuu. Her skin was flawless. Her disguise was very happy with Ryuu, and they had been 'dating' for two years.

Their most interesting escapade was when they had discovered a network of secret passageways under Konoha. After dining at Ichiraku's, they decided to take an evening walk. The sun was setting and showered the village in bright colors.

Naru suggested they just walk around in the streets. Neji agreed, and they spent about half an hour just wandering. At the forty-five minute mark, they had turned a corner and saw an old building with a mural on it. It was a picture of the Kyuubi attacking the village, with a small but bright moon in the top right corner that stood out. A bird was flying in the moonlight, above it all.

Naru had run up to the painting right away, and ran her hand over the brick. Neji was a little more cautious. He touched the fox, the bird, and the moon, which were the three most outstanding figures.

Naru decided to touch the moon, the fox, and then the bird. The wall began to tremble before sliding into the earth. Turning wide eyes to Neji, Naru grabbed his arm and dragged him into the dark abyss.

Over the next two months, they explored the entire area, and figured out pathways to important places such as the Hokage Tower, the hospital, all of the clan compounds, and the gates of Konoha. Neji had also taken a look at where they came out so they could enter in different place, not just the mural.

Now, they were absolute experts at working the secret underground streets.

Authors note: Feel free to review! Hope you enjoyed this!


	4. Chapter 3: Something More?

Authors Note: Hey guys! There's some interesting stuff going on here! Read on and enjoy!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own the world of Naruto, sadly, I don't.

Two years and six more months had passed since then. Neji and Naru trusted and knew each other better than anyone else they knew. They had had many experiences together.

Together, a year ago, they had found out about the Kyuubi Naru contained while sparring. Naru was afraid at first that Neji would hate her for it, but he didn't. He compared her situation with a scroll and what it holds. The object within it isn't the same thing as the scroll, is it?

Neji had confessed to her his feelings towards the Hyuuga clan as well. She had suggested that perhaps he was misunderstanding something, and he should confront his uncle about it. Although doubtful, he did as she said, and he was very surprised.

His father had volunteered to die of his own accord, for his brother, not because the clan elders forced him to. He now had a comfortable relationship (as much as Hyuugas could be) with both his uncle and his cousin.

Another large change was that Neji had graduated from the Academy with flying colors. He hadn't really had any friends there, so he was not sad to leave at all. Neji was definitely ready to confront the real ninja life.

His team was comprised of a girl named Tenten, a boy called Rock Lee, and his sensei, Maito Gai. They were called Team Nine. He was thankful for the girl, as she was the only non-useless fangirl in his class. The other two were simply insane.

Maito Gai had a heedful of black, shiny hair styled in a bowlcut. His sensei sported a blindingly bright green spandex leotard, and when he smiled, his teeth blinded everyone within a mile, as well as giving off a 'ping' sound. Supposedly, he was eternal rivals with Hatake Kakashi.

Lee had been corrupted shortly after joining the team. He now also wore a spandex suit and a bowlcut, as well as orange legwarmers. The boy could only do taijutsu, as something was wrong with his chakra system. Lee had also decided to declare Neji his eternal rival, even though he had not beaten Neji yet.

Tenten was a weapons girl, to put it simply. Neji had absolutely no idea where she kept them all. All he knew was that she had over a thousand various weapons hidden on her body, and that wasn't including her scrolls. She had her brown hair pulled back into two buns on top of her head, and wore a pink Chinese shirt.

Naru had also progressed so that she was in her final year of the Academy, over halfway done with the year. Her class was pretty crazy, and she only kept her sanity because of Neji. However, for whatever reason, although she would never admit it, she loved her quirky classmates.

It was midnight once again, this time a full moon. Naru jumped down to into the clearing for what seemed like the millionth time. She smiled. Naru would never get tired of this little spot.

Neji suddenly appeared behind her, but she didn't startle. He pouted. "I can't scare you anymore with this tactic, can I?"

Naru smirked over her shoulder at him. "Nope. I'm just awesome like that."

Putting his hand on her shoulder, he spun her around to face him. Naru looked into his eyes, waiting. Neji stepped back, taking her hand and bowing to her. "May I have this dance?" he asked, as was customary.

She blushed and replied, "Of course." He led her onto the lake, to the middle, and they got into position. Then they began out of nowhere. Naru laughed happily as he spun her into him, then out, catching his eyes briefly.

Neji's stomach fluttered. There was no longer any way to deny it. He liked her, a lot. He had felt a spark when they first met, even though he was only ten years old at the time. Those feelings had only grown in the years he had spent with her.

Her birthday had been about 6 months ago, and now she was thirteen, the same age he was. His birthday was 3, 4 months away. Naru's birthday was in October, his in July. Neji had been born the year before Naru.

Either way, he felt that perhaps he should confess his feelings soon, before somebody else could steal her away. Neji could never seem to find the right time, though.

When their dance ended, they collapsed onto the soft green grass surrounding the lake. Lying on their backs, they gazed at the beautiful bright stars. Lazily, Naru lifted her arm to point at a group of stars. "See Neji, that area looks like a star. Stars making a star!"

Neji squinted. "I don't see it." Naru scooted closer to him, so that they were touching. "See, it's right there." She waved her arms agitatedly.

Neji smiled softly. "Ah, I see it now." After spending a few more moments in silence, Neji propped himself up on his elbow. "Naru, I have something to tell you. I've been meaning to tell you for awhile now, but there just never seemed to be a good time."

Naru nodded at him to continue, focusing all her attention on him. Neji took a deep breath before deciding to blurt it out. "I really, really like you, Naru. When I see you, I get butterflies, and I'm always thinking about you. I don't know how you feel towards me, and I'm terrified that this might jeopardize our friendship, but I wanted you to know."

Naru's face had gone through many emotions, ranging from shock to happiness. "Neji, I feel the same way towards you. Ever since you came into my life, it has gotten way better. I always thought you were cute, and about a year ago, I confessed to myself that I like you very, very much." She blushed very heavily after saying that.

Neji was on Cloud 9 after hearing what she had to say. "Naru, you of all people would know that the life of a ninja is usually short. I know we're still kind of young yet, but I want to ask you this: Naru Uzumaki, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

Naru started crying happily. "Yes, yes, yes!" She tackled him in a hug, simply elated. Neji hugged her back. Everything felt absolutely perfect.

Naru grinned at him. Neji smiled back. She lay down next to him, and on a whim decided to rest her head on his shoulder. Neji didn't say anything, although he got a warm feeling in his chest.

They stayed there for hours, losing track of time, until both slipped into a deep, contented sleep.

Neji woke up suddenly, wondering what the heck happened to him last night to make him so giddy, even waking up in the morning. Then her remembered. He was Naru's boyfriend now. After he woke up three hours later in the clearing, and saw Naru was still asleep, he had taken her home and set her down on the bed. Somehow he had gotten himself back to the compound as well.

Neji sat up in bed, got out, and shuffled into the kitchen of the compound to get some early morning tea. While it was brewing, he sat down in deep contemplation. What would be next? He had no idea how to act or what to do around Naru now.

He sighed deeply before going through his daily routines. He took a shower, got dressed, and grabbed a bite to eat from the kitchen before heading out to meet his team.

The road he walked on every day had many trees, as his team usually met up at Training Ground 24. The area had a small stream, some rocks, trees, etc. Very peaceful, at least until the Dynamic Duo arrived.

Gai and Lee were already there, Gai giving Lee some taijutsu tips and Lee writing them down almost obsessively in a little notebook. Neji accidentally stepped on a twig, and it broke under his weight.

Gai whipped around with a blinding smile on his face. "Hello, my youthful student! What a beautiful morning, shining with the powers of youth!" His teeth 'ping'ed.

Lee joined in. "Yes! Gai-sensei is correct! We should start the day with fifty laps around Konoha!"

Gai started crying. "My youthful Lee, your passion for youth is shining brightly! Let us wait for Tenten, so she may join in on the youth as well!"

Neji groaned. At least he wouldn't be alone. Tenten was just arriving at the meeting place.

Lee, catching sight of Tenten, ran straight over to her. "Tenten, in the name of youth, we have decided to run fifty laps around Konoha!"

A few months ago, Tenten would have proclaimed something like, "What?! That's completely unreasonable!" But now she had learned her lesson, and held her tongue.

If somebody said that Gai and Lee's workout goals were insane, the two would say that they were entirely correct. And then proceed the double the exercise. In the name of youth.

Neji got ready to run. He wished so badly to be at the peaceful lakeside, with a particular blonde he knew. She made all his troubles go away.

Neji then had a revelation. No matter what they were to each other, friends or something more, it would pretty much be the same. Although they had acknowledged that they really, really liked each other, and of course there would be changes because of that, they would always be best friends.

Beginning to run before his sensei told him to, Neji gave a small smile he didn't let his team see. He couldn't wait to see Naru.

Naru sat up in her bed, woken because of her nightmare. She got those a lot. However, last night seemed different somehow. Naru had felt almost giddy, like she couldn't wait to wake up, and the nightmare wasn't as bad as it normally was.

Today was going to be a goody day, she could tell. Naru gasped. She had just remembered last night. Neji had asked her to be his girlfriend! She picked up her pillow and screamed into it.

Jumping out of bed with a bright smile on her face, she headed downstairs for a cup of miso ramen for breakfast. Then, remembering it was a school day, she hustled back upstairs to find some clothes.

Throwing her closet doors open, she skipped over almost all the clothes there. She felt like a change, for some reason. Instead of orange, perhaps blue would be a good color.

She sighed. It would have to wait. Naru had no blue clothes to wear. Maybe going to the only clothing shop in Konoha that let her in would help her case.

For school, she settled for wearing her usual bright orange jumpsuit for old times' sake. Raking a brush through her hair once or twice, she noticed the time.

Definitely going to be late again. Running out the front door, she slammed it behind her and headed toward the Academy for another day of boring lessons. The villagers only got a glimpse of orange as she passed.

Stepping into the classroom, she noticed that for once in her life, the impeccable Iruka was late for a change. She slipped into her seat just as he walked in.

The teacher did role call and tried to get the room's attention. Finding no success, he resorted to using the big head jutsu. Worked every time.

"Class, we are only about two months away from the Genin Exams." Excited chatter started to rise up. Iruka spoke again, and the noise died down. "These last few months will be focused on preparing all of you for them. The exams consist of a written test and a physical test. We will cover history, weaponry, throwing kunai and shuriken, bunshin, kawarimi, etc."

Naru's mind was working furiously. If she passed this exam, she could be at Neji's rank in two months, give or take a few days. She would have to get all the details about the exams from him. She couldn't wait to see Neji again.


	5. Chapter 4: A Stolen Neji

Hey everyone! I just wanted to thank you all for all the favorites, alerts, and reviews! Now the story is going to slow down a bit. If there are more time skips, it'll be smaller than the previous ones, I promise. Also, I wanted to let everyone know that I won't be updating for another week and a few days or so, since Spring Break is starting tomorrow (WOOHOO) and I want to focus on writing. Thanks! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~What I been missing in my life what I've been dreaming of. You be that girl, you be that girl.~

You Make Me Feel So…

Cobra Starship

After the Academy FINALLY let out, Naru ran to where Neji's team trained. He had given her the times and places in case of an emergency. And this was an emergency. In its own way.

Naru had two emergencies. One was the issue of her clothing, and the other was the Genin Exams.

Somehow she had just noticed this morning that all her clothes were orange. And not just any shade of orange. A blindingly bright neon orange that simply screamed, 'Kill me now!'

The bright side of having those clothes was that if she could become unseen in that, she could disappear in anything. How did the Hokage think she got into the ANBU headquarters anyway?

She desperately needed new clothes. Naru decided to try on several colors and keep an open mind, but she felt that blue might be her best bet.

Her other emergency, the Genin Exams, was also a fairly large cause for concern. She absolutely had to pass the stupid test so she could be closer to Neji in yet another way.

Naru's face began to melt into a dreamy expression when she thought about him. His smile, his eyes, his laugh, his dancing…

She shook herself. This was no time for daydreaming, even though Neji was definitely the most dream-worthy guy out there.

She came to a sign on the side of the road she was running along. It pointed to Training Grounds 20-25. Sending a mental thank-you to the sign, because otherwise she would have definitely missed it, Naru ran on. The sign tilted and fell on its side from the wind she kicked up.

Naru sighed. It really was a beautiful day. She just hoped that she might be able to steal Neji away from his team. Then she could spend the whole day with him.

The day. As in, the sun shines, people are bustling around, birds sing, restaurants are open, that sort of thing. Maybe they could make this their first real and true date.

Naru felt a thrill run through her, settling in her stomach. It filled her with an impossible giddiness.

Seeing Training Ground 23, Naru slowed down to a civilian pace, making sure she didn't miss her target. After spotting the number 24 a few yards away, she jumped up into the surrounding trees.

Then she applied a silencing charm on her feet to conceal her presence. Naru leaped gracefully and soundlessly through the wooden structures, feeling like a ghost. She smiled and performed a twirl in midair. Laughing aloud, her smile somehow grew even wider.

She recalled where she was and slapped her hands to her mouth. There was no trace of the laugh or the smile present only a moment ago.

Almost barreling into the clearing, she spread out her arms to stop her movement. Immediately, she flew backward like a rubber band from the force of the impact. Twisting while still in the air, she attached her feet to the side of a tree. Naru smirked. Showing off her ninja skills was fun.

The sound of something pummeling a tree stump viciously brought her down to earth. Peering cautiously down into the clearing, a boy dressed entirely in bright green greeted her eyes.

She averted her eyes only to see another, larger green man, who was laughing heartily while holding up his hand in the thumbs-up sign. Feeling her eyes burning, Naru scanned the clearing for Neji.

Then she saw him sparring with the only girl on his team. Neji had said she was a weapons kind of girl. His word proved to be true, as she was showing him no mercy. Weapons were raining down upon Neji from all directions. Naru knew that even though the girl was good, Neji would beat her.

Naru sat down on a branch of a tree, resting her back against the cool wood, facing away from the team. Her wheels were turning again. How could she snatch her boyfriend away from the girl and those green…people?

Naru thought of her and Neji's disguises. What if she used their technique to make a new alias? A Hyuuga, to be exact.

She could walk into the clearing at a convenient time and let Neji know it was her. The signal would be a quick flash of her bright orange clothes. He would immediately recognize the color.

After Team Nine took notice of her, she would give some Hyuuga-like excuse. Then she could snatch up Neji and leave. It was genius.

Naru took some water from a small stream nearby to use in her covering. She commanded the water to cloak her body completely, then infused her chakra into the water and changed it.

Her master Hyuuga disguise was a sophisticated grown man, with no outstanding features. It had dark brown hair, a stoic expression, and pale skin, the usual Hyuuganess.

Naru jumped back to the road, and locating the sign of Training Ground 24, she took a deep breath before walking towards the clearing. Once she arrived, Naru could feel Neji's eyes on her. She flashed a bit of her neon orange clothes for a split second and covered herself back up.

Neji stared at the newcomer with puzzled eyes. Who was this supposed Hyuuga? Then he caught a flash of orange and smirked.

What was Naru up to? She had never come to one of his team practices before. Definitely not in disguise.

"Neji," Tenten whispered. "Who's he?" Neji sighed and closed his eyes. How was he going to answer this one? He opened his mouth to make up an answer but was interrupted.

Naru had walked straight over to his sensei, but Gai didn't take any notice of her. He was too busy continually laughing like a loon.

She walked right up to the green man and tapped his shoulder. Gai's eyes widened. "Yosh!" he exclaimed. "Team, we have a visitor!"

Naru schooled her face. "I am here for Hyuuga Neji. The head of the clan has called for him. He will not be available until tomorrow."

Gai gasped dramatically. "Oh, Neji can certainly be excused! Neji, go with him! We will see you tomorrow!" Neji nodded unemotionally and left with Naru, who was still in disguise.

After they had walked out of eyesight, Naru had dropped the jutsu. She plastered her hands over her mouth, and her face rapidly turned red. As soon as they were definitely out of earshot, Naru dropped to the ground and started rolling with laughter.

Neji smiled, glad to see her so happy. She eventually was able to choke out, "That was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life! How do you see them everyday and not burst out into laughter?"

Neji snorted. "I was raised to conceal and suppress my emotions. You are the sole person I let loose my feelings to."

Naru, getting up, smiled shyly at the ground. "Anyways, what was dragging me out of training for?"

Naru perked up. "I have two crisis's. A fashion disaster, which, yes, you are coming along, and no, you can't get out of it, and a Genin Exams emergency. I need information on the test."

Neji sighed. "Very well. I'm sure you're hungry, so let's discuss it over a late lunch." Naru grinned. "Sounds good to me!" she proclaimed.

Neji smirked evilly. "Just not Ichiraku's." Naru's jaw dropped to the ground. "What? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Neji laughed, and soon Naru, who couldn't resist, joined him.

And…SCENE! Hope y'all liked it! Please review!


	6. Chapter 5: Shopping!

Authors Note: Hey everyone! Hope y'all like! Oh yeah, thank you so much for your reviews, favorites, and alerts! I'm sorry I don't reply to the reviews, I wish I could, but I'm just super busy. Also, I'm going to be working on a one-shot for Twilight before the next chapter of this, so it might be a little bit.

Thanks for the reviews: Kibou Hikari (Guest), Fire Dolphin, Snowtime, McKazekage, HikariHime (Guest), mikes0me, and OoO (Guest).

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change. 'Cause you're amazing, just the way you are.~

Just The Way You Are

Bruno Mars

In the end, they decided to eat out at a place that was focused on things with teriyaki. Teriyaki chicken, teriyaki steak, teriyaki pork, etc. It was surprisingly good.

As Naru contentedly munched on her chicken, Neji contemplated on what to reveal to her about the exams. Should he tell her what was required, what to study, how it worked or not? Eventually he decided he would give her a basic outline of what it was going to be like but not what to study.

"Okay, Naru. I'm not going to tell you everything about the test, because that would be blatantly cheating, but I will tell you some stuff about it." Pausing to take a bite of his pork, he chewed thoughtfully.

A voice interrupted his thoughts. "But Neji, I have to know everything so I can definitely pass! Then I can be on the same level as you." Naru whined. Neji smirked. "In that case, perhaps I shouldn't tell you anything. Maybe you should stay at the Academy for another year."

Naru gasped dramatically. "You wouldn't!" she cried, reaching out towards him with one hand and slapping her other on her chest. "I need help! You're my only chance!"

Neji looked at her, his eye beginning to twitch. "How about this," he said. "How about you drop the dramatic acting and I'll inform you." Naru smiled brightly at him, all traces of her previous mood gone.

She leaned forward eagerly, resting her chin on her hands. "Go on," she proclaimed, staring at him unblinkingly.

Neji continued. "As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," he gave Naru a small glare only to find her conveniently looking out the window. His eye picked up twitching again. "There are two parts to the test. They are the Physical Test and the Mental Test. In the Physical, you will be asked to show off some three jutsu that have been taught to you already and your weapon skills. You will also need to reveal your taijutsu skills to them." Neji exhaled.

"In the Mental Test, well, it's basically a written test. They will quiz you on all the things you have learned in your past years in the Academy."

Naru was horrified, to say the least. How on earth was she going to pass the written test? Physical, sure, she could probably pass that. Especially since Neji had begun sparring with her. She felt herself getting stronger every day.

But the written test was definitely a problem. A huge problem. If she was honest with herself, she retained about 5% of what she had been taught at the Academy. Most of it was boring anyway. The only interesting things were the Fourth Hokage and…well, nothing else.

Naru sighed, and decided to initiate Plan A, which she had just found out now. It consisted of two steps: the first step, she would finish her chicken. The second step would be to go shopping, dragging Neji with her.

Okay, maybe more than two steps would be required. Naru pouted. Step three could be tiring him out with shopping. Number four could be going to the lake later that night and then subtly sneaking in questions about the test without him noticing. Yep, that would work. Perfect.

Grinning, Naru mowed down the rest of her chicken. Neji took a glance at the bowl she had eaten from, full only a second ago. Then he shrugged. After eating out with Naru the first few times, he had gotten used to it, but not quite immune to the sight. It still gave him a bit of a queasy stomach.

Naru leaned forward and stared at Neji with all her might, which really wasn't all that hard to do. He was so cute and handsome…Naru shook her head. She couldn't afford to be thinking about that right now. She went back to creeping Neji out.

Neji looked up from his pork and almost screamed. Naru was leaning across the table towards him, with huge eyes that scared him to death. Once his heart was at a fairly normal pace, Neji took a deep breath and whisper-yelled, "What was that for?"

Naru smiled. "It was to get you to hurry up. You know we still have to go shopping, right? And the best part is, you get to see all the clothes I try on before anyone else gets to see them. Plus, you get to spend time with your new girlfriend." She said the last thing quietly, with a small blush on her face.

Neji sighed. He did _not _want to go shopping, but he definitely wanted to spend time with Naru. Neji ate the rest of his meal quickly and stood up. Naru beamed brightly, taking his actions as a yes to go shopping with her.

They left the restaurant and Neji let Naru take the reins. Taking his hand and securing it tightly, she dragged him to the first clothing store she saw. Neji groaned inwardly. What had he gotten himself into?

An hour and a half later, they were still at the same store. Naru was trying on something again. Neji was half-asleep in a chair close to the dressing rooms.

Suddenly, Naru burst from the changing room for the hundredth time. All the outfits she had picked out and tried on were rejected. Neji had finally had enough of it, and he decided to select some clothes for Naru himself.

Naru was reluctant to trust his fashion sense, but to please him she tried it on. And was stunned by what she saw in the mirror.

She had on a soft baby-blue short sleeve shirt with medium wash jeans. Her shoes were flats the same color as the shirt. It was simple, but she loved it.

She ran out of the changing room and pounced on Neji, giving him a huge hug. "Neji!" she cried. "I love it! You're the best!"

Neji, who was now wide awake, stared at Naru. She was pretty in the orange, of course, but the blue was perfect on her. Neji smiled. "You look amazing, Naru. You should try on the rest of the civilian things I picked out for you." Naru nodded and headed back to the dressing room with a blush.

The rest of her clothes were different shades of blue, with a little white or black here and there. At the end of it all, an hour after their big discovery, Naru had picked out a dress, pants, shirts (long sleeves, short sleeves, and tanktops), shorts, shoes, and some hair accessories. She refused to buy a purse.

Naru led the way out of the shop, having Neji carry the bags. Looks of sympathy from guys out shopping with their girlfriends or wives were directed at him.

After the two and a half hours Neji endured in the civilian clothing store, Naru decided to make a pitstop at a nearby dango stand. Neji and Naru stared at a purple-haired lady with too many dango sticks to count in her hands, yelling at the poor waiter to get her some more. Needless to say, the two quietly took their dango to go.

A ninja clothing store caught Naru's eye, and she scarfed down her dango, grabbed Neji's hand, and dragged him right through the door. She wasn't going to wear her civilian clothes on missions or training! Plus, she still had to get weapons and probably a swimsuit along with pj's! There was no time to waste!

Naru walked right on into the store. A old lady called a greeting to her. "Hello, young one. How can I help you today?" Naru declared, "I'm here to get new ninja clothing, and my boyfriend here is tagging along helping." She blew a kiss towards Neji.

The old woman looked at all the bags Neji was carrying and shook her head amusedly. "Here, you can set the bags down over there," she said to a tired Neji.

Then the elderly shopkeeper led Naru around the store, asking many questions and showing her options. She was asked things such as what weapons she used, her style, and her body, the last of which Naru wasn't exactly comfortable talking about in front of Neji.

Eventually the lady came up with the perfect outfit: it was a baby blue shirt, with a long sleeve that ended in a flowing way on one side and simply a thick strap for the opposite. The bottom was plain black capris. Naru would wrap white tape around the bottoms of the capris so they wouldn't make as much noise when she moved. Her shoes were just black ninja sandals, but she got an extra pair that had sharpened heels, allowing her to inflict more damage on her opponents.

Naru walked out of the dressing room with it on and walked to Neji as if she was on a catwalk. Her feet seemed to glide across the floor, and Neji had no idea how she did it. When she got to the end of the imaginary catwalk, she stopped, blew a kiss to Neji, and glided back to the dressing room.

After she had paid for the new outfit, Naru had wanted to go to a weaponry shop. She had been practicing using double swords with Neji in secret. No one else knew but him. Before she had been using bokken, but Naru thought it was time for an upgrade.

However, her plans for visiting the weapons shop fizzled out, because Neji had declared he was way too tired and if she got too much more stuff he would collapse under the weight of all the bags.

Naru complained, "But Neji, I really wanted to go to the shop today, 'cause then I wouldn't have to go shopping for clothes for a long time. Plus, I already know what I want. We could even go out for ice cream afterwards, if you want."

Neji sighed. How could he say no to her puppy-eyes face? Ice cream sounded really good now too. "Alright, Naru. Let's drop by your house and drop off the bags and then go to the weapons shop."

Naru squealed. She grabbed Neji's hand before running full speed towards her house. Neji stood there, stunned, while she took bags from his arms into her bedroom. Soon he was bag-free, and much happier.

Then Naru raced towards the door, latching onto Neji in the process, and forced him out the door. She couldn't wait to order her new weapons!

Authors Note: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update sooner. Thank you for being so patient and supportive! Keep up the reviews, please!


	7. Chapter 6: A Story Told

Sup peeps? I've been recovering from some surgery, so that's why I haven't updated in a bit. Sorry about that. Can you forgive me? Pretty please?

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~And if you have a minute why don't we go, talk about it somewhere only we know. This could be the end of everything. So why don't we go, somewhere only we know.~

Somewhere Only We Know

Keane

Naru dragged Neji towards the weapon shop, becoming more and more excited as they approached. She practically burst into the store, banging open the doors.

She looked around with a wide smile before marching straight up to the desk. "Hi," she began. "I'm looking for the owner of this store." The boy behind the desk sighed and began to slowly amble to get the owner.

Naru didn't say anything but she bounced in place while still holding Neji's hand. The owner, a kind old man, came out and smiled down at her.

"Hello, young one. Are you the lady who asked for me?" He rumbled. Naru nodded. "Alright, then. What can I do for you?"

Naru had sketched what she wanted, in complete and full detail. The old man looked over it carefully, stroking his short white beard in contemplation.

"I can get you what you want, but it's going to take about a month and a half to make them. Probably a week or so after the Genin exams, if you're an Academy student."

Naru grinned with excitement. "Perfect!" she exclaimed. "I'll be here a week after the exams, and it better be ready, Jiji!"

The old man laughed heartily. He shoved them out the door and said goodbye with a twinkle in his eye.

"Soooo…what do you want to do now Neji?"

Neji sighed. "Unfortunately, I must go home now. My uncle will be expecting me, since I'm usually home around this time. Will I see you tonight?"

Naru smiled at him brightly. "Of course!" she said with a cheery tone in her voice. "I'll see you tonight, Neji." Hesitating, but then jumping right in like the girl she was, Naru gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks for today, Neji. I had a lot of fun." She smiled blindingly before running off towards her little apartment.

Neji stood there, stunned for a few minutes, before giving a small smile of his own. Looking up at the sky and shaking his head, he set off for the Hyuuga compound.

Later that night, after Naru had finished putting away her new clothes, it was 11:30, not yet time to meet Neji. She sighed. She was feeling particularly impatient tonight, for some reason.

The duo had decided to make the meeting tonight special. They almost always ballroom danced with each other, but tonight, to celebrate Naru getting new clothes, (as well as the unspoken fact that they were together now) Neji and Naru had deemed it a special BRN.

It stood for Ballroom Night. They were going to dress up all fancy, her in a dress and he in…well, whatever he was going to wear. She wasn't sure what his attire was going to be, because he had kept it a secret from her.

Naru decided to begin getting ready for dancing with Neji. She combed her still waist-length blond hair until it shined, and she could run her hand through it with no problem.

Then she picked out the dress she had bought on her spree with Neji and slipped it on, taking care not to mess up her hair. The dress was then paired with a pair of white flats.

Naru didn't like wearing high heels because she wasn't comfortable in them. Sure, she could still dance the same, but it didn't feel the same.

She looked at herself in the mirror and deemed herself ready. Not bothering to apply any makeup because Neji had once told her she looked beautiful without it, Naru stepped out the door, turned around, and locked it.

Smiling in excitement and anticipation as to what the night would bring, Naru ran to their secret place.

Neji looked at himself in the mirror, trying to make sure every detail was perfect for their BRN. He ran a comb through his hair quickly, because it wasn't manly to fuss over your hair if you were a guy. Even if he had gorgeous hair in his opinion. And in Naru's opinion.

He had donned a tuxedo, sleek and black but comfortable enough to dance in easily. Straightening his bowtie he nervously wiped his palms on his pants. This was their first BRN, and he wanted it to be absolutely perfect.

Neji realized it was only 11:30, so he had some time left. Then an idea came to him.

To make this night even more magical for his girlfriend, he would get her a flower. A rose was the obvious choice. The Hyuuga compound had beautiful gardens with many types of flowers. Surely the gardeners wouldn't notice the absence of one flower.

He hurried outside, into the flower-filled area. Neji took in the almost overwhelming scent of the flowers and the garden's beauty in the moonlight before getting down to work.

Neji saw tulips, daisies, forget-me-nots, chrysanthemums, marigolds, birds of paradise, orchids, pansies, and many more. But there were no roses. He was about to reluctantly give up before he decided to try a last-ditch effort: using his Byakugan.

His vision changed immediately, giving him a 359° range of view. Smirking, he homed in on a rose almost directly after activating his Kekkai Genkai. It was the only one left, but it was the most beautiful rose, let alone flower, he had ever seen.

It was perfect.

Allowing himself a very small smile, he picked the rose with the greatest care before heading out of the compound. It was finally midnight.

He shivered in excitement and anticipation, wondering what the night would bring.

They got there at nearly the same time. Naru jumped out of the trees a second before Neji did. The two both stared at their partner, stunned. Neji was flabbergasted by Naru in a dress, while Naru was blushing furiously as she took in Neji wearing a tux.

Neji was the first to initiate speech. "Naru, I must say," he began. "You look positively stunning." Naru blushed even heavier, if it was possible, at that remark.

He walked forward and took the rose from his coat pocket. "This is for you, lovely lady. He placed it delicately in her hand and Naru accepted it shyly.

"Why thank you, kind sir, for your generosity. I love it." She took a deep breath with the rose close to her face, smelling the lovely scent it emitted.

Neji smiled widely. His efforts had paid off. "Now," he continued. "How about we begin? You can put the rose over there by our tree, if you like."

Naru smiled happily. "I do believe that would be best," she returned. Their tree was where they always sat to take breaks from dancing or sparring, had midnight picnics, talked, or just lay down to gaze at the moon and stars.

Coming back from placing her flower down, Naru approached Neji. He bowed down low to her, kissing her hand softly. "May I have this dance?" he asked cordially.

Naru's heart rate sped up. She was so lucky to have such a boyfriend. He was such a gentleman. "Yes, of course you may. Shall we?"

Neji nodded and led her out onto the lake. The water made ripples wherever they touched down, and the full moon gazed down upon them. It had hit just the right spot in the sky so that the lake bloomed to life.

It was as mysterious, magical, and marvelous as when they had first found it. Now, however, it meant so much more to them than simply a pretty clearing. It was the place they met, where they slowly became friends, best friends, and finally lovers.

Naru thought she might burst with joy as she danced with Neji. He was her entire future, she knew that much. Somehow, she could tell it was the same with him.

Hana Inuzuka had gotten special permission from the Hokage himself to look for herbs and other plants she needed for her medications. She had to have some to make certain medicines and vaccines for her clan's dogs. Hana was a veternarian in training.

She was allowed to go and search through Training Grounds 1-10, and currently she was in Ground 8. Hana had had some luck with her foraging, but she wasn't quite satisfied with her findings yet.

The Inuzuka had one thing left on her list, and if she could get a little more of pretty much anything else that would be a great bonus. She couldn't fail at this task. It was assigned to her by her mother.

Sighing uncontentedly, she decided there was nothing in Training Ground 8. Hana decided to take a small break before heading into Ground 9. Taking a look at the moon, she determined that it was around 12:00, which meant it was midnight.

If she wanted to get any sleep, she better hurry up and get the rest of her ingredients. Reluctantly she hauled herself up from under her peaceful tree and stretched lithely. It was almost similar as to how a dog would stretch.

That would probably be because of her heritage and how she was raised. She was one of the main clans of Konoha; an Inuzuka. Inuzukas were partners as well as best friends with their dog companions.

When a young child was paired with their dog, it was for life. The child would be able to talk to the puppy and they would have to take care of it. It would be their life.

Hana was special because instead of bonding with only one dog, she bonded with three. To test her on her gathering skills, however, her dogs were kept at home while she searched.

She finally got herself moving towards Ground 9. Scouring the edges but finding nothing, Hana then moved deeper into the woods. Slowly but surely she worked herself into the center of the Ground.

Brushing away a tree branch while keeping her eyes glued to the ground, her instincts suddenly kicked in and she looked up sharply. Her eyes glinted eerily in the moonlight before she disappeared in a blur, only to reappear on a branch in the middle of the tree.

Hana had sensed something. She was almost positive it was two humans, most likely ninjas, who were just beyond the tree she was located. Moving forward cautiously, she breached the clearing and what she saw stunned her.

There was a beautiful lake, with some sort of wispy fog hovering just above the surface, somehow shining like jewels. The moon shone directly down on it in just the right way, giving it an ethereal, other-worldly look. It was absolutely breath-taking.

Then Hana noticed two shadowy figures in the clearing. It was clearly a man and a woman, if not a boy and a girl. The woman had long hair and was a head smaller than the man.

The man produced a rose from his jacket, and the lady accepted it before laying it down by a tree. When she came back, the man bowed down to her, taking her hand and kissing it elegantly, before seemingly asking her something.

The lady said yes and the man led her out onto the lake. Hana was sure they would fall right in, as she felt no chakra usage, but miraculously they were as steady and supported on the water as they were on land.

Once they reached the middle of the body of water, Hana could see clearly what they were going to do. They were going to dance. On the water.

Seemingly at a random time, the two began at the exact same time, keeping in pace and knowing precisely what the other would do, when, and what they should do to respond to their partner's actions. It was as if they had been partners for years and years. Hana assumed that they probably were.

After a span of about five minutes, maybe less, they appeared to truly come alive in their dancing. If Hana thought they were amazing before, this was _nothing _compared to earlier.

The duo spun, leaped, and twirled like nothing she had ever seen before. It was indescribable. They were just outlines against the moon, from the view point she had, but that made them all the more mysterious.

Hana felt like she was looking at something sacred, something she wasn't supposed to be witnessing, but she couldn't bear to tear her eyes away from the two. They were enchanting, to say the least.

And, evidently they were lovers. She was able to devise that much from the rose and their apparent closeness. After half an hour of dancing, they finally ended the dance, much to Hana's disappointment.

The man spoke softly to the lady, who smiled up at him tenderly. Leaning in and kissing the top of her head, the man murmured what looked like a goodbye, and within a second, both were gone. There was no trace of them left. Even the rose was gone.

Able to move again, Hana tried to pull herself together as she finally found what she was looking for in Training Ground 10. She hurried back home, eager to tell her mother and the rest of her family what she had seen.

Her mother passed it on to one of her friends, who happened to be a social butterfly, and she passed it on to whomever she ended up talking to. The story was just too enticing to be kept secret, so it spread like wildfire.

Soon the whole village knew about the tale. Some believed it was simply concocted by a kid's imagination, while others felt that it was completely true.

The dancers' story became a children's bedtime story, a romance tale for women, a person to try to be like for men. Within three weeks, everyone in Konoha knew the tale by heart.

How the lady and the gent met up every night at midnight, and danced the night away. How they loved each other with everything they had. How no one knew what they looked like, because no one had seen them face-to-face.

Because the villagers had no name to call them by, one title surfaced and was wholly accepted by everyone. The dancers were to be called Moon Dancers.

Hehehe, bet you guys weren't expecting _that_, huh? I hope you all extra-liked this one, because I personally think it's one of my best chapters I've written so far. Please review with your opinions, questions, comments, etc. Thank you!


	8. Chapter 7: The Genin Exams

Heeeyy! Thank you guys a ton for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! Love the reaction to my story! Okay, too many exclamation points _again_. Sigh. Review please! Or should it be please review…?

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life.~

Feeling Good

Anthony Newley + Leslie Bricusse

* * *

When word of the Moon Dancers reached Naru, she panicked. She couldn't concentrate on anything in class because Naru was so nervous about being found out. She had to find Neji immediately.

What would happen if they were caught? Who had seen them? Would they continue to meet up every night?

Wait a minute. There was a village story about her and Neji now? Naru smiled. That was epic.

From the way everyone was talking about it, it would seem that the tale would be permanently etched into everyone's brain. It would be a story that was passed down generation to generation.

People hadn't had anything like this occur since the Kyuubi attack. Quite simply, it was the perfect story to help everyone forget about the tragedy of that incident. Instead of deep sadness and wondering about what ifs, her and Neji's little secret that wasn't-quite-out filled everyone, ninja and civilian alike, with a sense of mystery and romance.

An unforgiving piece of chalk whizzed towards her head at lightning speed. Naru's eyes widened before she quickly ducked and spun around, just in time to see the boy who was sitting behind her pelted with the white object. The boy happened to be Uchiha Sasuke.

His fangirls screamed out in concern. There were many of them, but the leaders were definitely Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. "Sasuke!" They screeched. "Are you alright? That mean girl hit you with the chalk!"

Naru gaped. She hit him with the chalk? More like Iruka hit him with the chalk. Not her fault he didn't duck down in time as well.

Iruka spluttered at her confusedly. Naru had never dodged a piece of chalk before. It always hit her, every single time. What changed?

The truth of the matter was that Neji had been practicing with Naru. He was in-between the level of a chuunin and a genin, since he had been held back last year from the chuunin exams (much to Naru's relief) and he had helped her get from academy level to about medium genin level.

Just then, the bell rang conveniently, saving her from having to make any awkward excuses. Bolting out of the classroom, she ran for home. Needless to say, Naru made it there in record time.

Recently, she had taken up the hobby of cooking. (Well, it wasn't quite a hobby. More of a necessity.) Neji had grabbed her some cook books from a local bookstore, since there was no way she was going to ruin her reputation going in there, and told her she should try it.

Neji thought that consuming all that ramen affected her growth rate. She was currently one of the smallest, if not THE smallest girl in her class. Which definitely was a blow to her pride.

In reluctant desperation, Naru agreed to try it. Surprisingly, she found she enjoyed it a lot. Neji liked her meals and instead of packing a lunch for the day to eat with his team, he dropped by her apartment and ate with her.

Some nights he also came along for dinner, but those times were rare. Usually Naru could tell when he was going to come over based on his attitude and words the previous night. He was definitely dropping by tonight, assuming he had heard of the village's new obsession.

Naru began chopping up some chicken into small bits and cooked them in a pan. Then she drizzled some teriyaki sauce on it and tossed the chicken bits around. She made some white rice too.

After everything was done, Naru stored everything in a container and stuffed it in the fridge. What now? Immediately, her mind came up with the perfect response; train!

She had been keeping it a secret from Neji, but on one of their not-so-recent-anymore trips down in the tunnels of Konoha, she had noticed a door. Only about two weeks ago, she had worked up the courage to check it out.

After practically ramming through the old blockade, Naru had stumbled into a smallish room almost overflowing with ancient books. Like, books that were so old it wasn't even funny.

The room contained knowledge on all the clans of Konoha, secret information on the other ninja villages, records of all past Leaf ninja, and fighting techniques. There was also healing, an epic version of the bingo book, and in her opinion, the most coolest and exciting thing in books: sealing.

So, even though the books said that sealing was VERY dangerous, and could have horrible consequences if she messed up even a little, Naru totally dove right in. To her, it was second nature. After breathing and being with Neji, sealing was right behind those.

Apparently, sealing had levels. The lowest one was, of course, Beginner. Then it went to Advanced Beginner, Expert Beginner, and so on until Master. Naru wanted the title of Master really badly. Currently, she was a new Expert Beginner, because no matter how easily someone took to something, it still took time to master techniques and seals. Naru was some sort of prodigy, because the best sealer

recorded was the Fourth Hokage, and he had only reached Expert Beginner in four weeks, compared to her two weeks.

Naru settled down at her small dining room table and took out the Beginner book of seals. She opened it to the first page of the last section, which was headed Expert Beginner. Naru became so immersed in her work that she completely lost track of time.

Suddenly, breaking her out of her seal-induced trance, Neji knocked on her front door. Looking around frantically, she realized that there was no way she could clean up the mess around her. Naru was pretty much buried in scribbles and paper, plus her hands were drenched in ink splatters.

Sighing, she called, "Come on in, Neji!" He complied and stopped dead at the sight of her at the table. "Naru?" he asked. "What's all this?"

Naru grinned sheepishly at him. "Well, that's something I wanted to talk to you about tonight," she began. "But let's discuss this over dinner. I have to clean this up first. I made teriyaki chicken and rice!" she beamed, very proud of her dish.

"Sure," Neji smiled softly at her. "I'll help you. I have some things I wanted to talk to you about as well." Between the two of them, and their ninja experience, the heap of paper and ink was gone in no time. Naru hurried to set out the homemade meal while Neji sat down.

After eating in silence for a few minutes, Naru made the first move. "I have something to confess," she admitted. "While we were on our latest underground trip, I noticed an old door, but I didn't say anything about it. Two weeks ago, I finally decided to open it up and see what was behind the other side. It led to a small room filled with books! Like, old, ancient, dusty books that only the Hokage library and main clans have." She took a sip of water and continued. "I found some books on the art of sealing, and I tried it out. I guess I'm something of a natural at it, because it comes super easy to me, and I now know several techniques and seals already. I don't know why I haven't told you before now. There's really no point."

Naru exhaled deeply. It felt great to have that off her chest. Neji stared at her sternly for a moment before shaking his head. "You know you could've been killed, right Naru? And that we should probably tell someone, like the Hokage, about this?"

Naru pouted, but knew he was right. "Of course I knew I could've been killed! But do we really have to tell Jiji about this?" Neji pondered her query for a bit then looked down. "I suppose it would be kind of nice to have that information at our fingertips. Perhaps we should keep it to ourselves for a little while longer," he muttered.

She grinned brightly at her boyfriend before giving him a huge hug. "Thanks Neji!" He smiled contentedly, closing his eyes as he breathed in her scent. Since she had cut down on the ramen, Naru now smelt like roses and…mint.

After expertly detaching himself from her death grip, he decided to man up and tell her his problem. "Alright, Naru. You've confessed to me, and now I must confess to you," he hesitantly started.

"My team has become very suspicious of me recently. My sensei is close to contacting my uncle about me. Because I keep coming to your place for lunch, instead of eating a packed lunch as I did before, and sometimes I skip out on dinner at home to come here, they're trying to stalk me and find out where I'm going. Most of the time I've been able to shake them, but they're getting better and better. So far, they haven't discovered about us meeting at night, but I'm worried they might. For safety's sake, I believe that for a small time I should stop coming over for lunch and dinner. I can't just not see you for very long, though, so we should keep our midnight meetings. Is that alright with you?"

Naru took a moment to absorb that fact and nodded unhappily. "I suppose so," she sighed. "I'm going to miss you coming over so often, but at least we can still see each other at night, like how we used to do."

Neji smiled in relief. "Now, let's talk about the new village story…"

* * *

Neji had gotten wind of the tale about the same time as Naru, and while he was a little nervous about the fact that they were found out, he reminded her that civilians weren't allowed in the Training Grounds. That took away most of the Konoha population.

Only the ninjas were a threat. Whatever happened, no one could find out they were the dancers. Neji wasn't sure why he felt that way, but he definitely knew he wanted to keep his relationship with Naru private, at least for a little while longer.

Luckily, Naru felt the same way. It was a little annoying to her, however. Neji's girl teammate, TenTen, obviously liked Neji. If their status was to reach the girl, maybe TenTen would stop her advances on Neji.

But, no matter how much Naru wanted that to stop, she never wanted her secret time with Neji to end. It always gave her a rush to see him standing there, impeccably handsome. And to think he had picked her of all people, out of all the girls in the village. Now that she had him, she sure as heck wasn't going to let him go.

A week and a half later, it was time for the Genin Exams to take place. Naru came to take them in her new blue clothes. She hadn't worn them before, wanting to make a dramatic change and stun people. Naru figured now was as good as a time as any.

She arrived early and sat at the back of the room, because it was easier to mask herself back there. As predicted, nobody noticed her, and when it was her time to go, Naru calmly walked down the aisle of desks, confidently strutting past her classmates and teacher.

She softly closed the door behind her, just as the room burst into confused mayhem. Smirking at the mess she caused, Naru fixed her face into the most innocent expression she could muster up and smiled sweetly at the judge.

The judge-person had her take the mental test first, which was easy for her. Neji had been making sure she studied everything, and it was now stuck in her brain. After that test, Naru was required to take the physical one.

They had her throw kunai and shuriken, show off her skills on the three basic ninjutsu taught at the academy, and her taijutsu. Neji had helped her with her taijutsu, making it passable, but it just wasn't suited for her.

In the tunnel room, they had found a book on different styles. In no time, Naru found the one that matched her. Ironically, it was called the Many Fox Tails. It involved using all her limbs, plus two swords, to strike quickly and retreat. To do any damage with the style, one had to have great speed and strength.

Her clone jutsu was another problem. Naru just had too much chakra to gain control over in such a short amount of time. Luckily, she had already progressed past the leaf and tree walking stage. Now she was working on fighting sideways on trees, as the water walking exercise couldn't really apply to her.

Thus, instead of making a regular clone, she created a shadow clone. Shadow clones were solid, while regular clones were simply illusions.

The judge was stunned but pleased, and he said she passed with flying colors. Giving her a hiate-ate on a black ribbon, he waved her out while calling in the next person. Grinning happily, Naru leapt out the window when the guy's back was turned. When he looked over his shoulder to ask her to leave, she was gone. Without a trace.

* * *

The end! Hope y'all liked. Thank you everyone for all the reviews! Got to twenty the last chapter! (Starts dancing.) Keep it up!


	9. Chapter 8: Teammates!

Hiya peeps! Now that Naru is out of the Academy, I can finally get the ball rolling a little faster! Thank y'all for the reviews, favorites, and followings! In return, I'll do my best to give you guys some good writing. Oh yeah, sorry about not updating much. My life is just crazy with the end of the school year coming closer. Only 23 more days, including weekends! Woo Hoo! (Last thing, I promise. I'm finding it kinda hard to find lyrics to put at the beginning of my chapters. If anybody has anything in mind please tell me the song and the artist! It'd help a lot. Thanks guys!)

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller.~

What Doesn't Kill You

Kelly Clarkson

Naru was ecstatic. She was finally out of the Academy, hopefully forever! Yes, the place did have good memories, but she had bigger things just waiting for her. Like her dream of becoming Hokage and Neji.

As she leaped away from the building, Naru decided to stop at Ichiraku's for a bowl to celebrate. While running, scaring civilians half to death, she had a thought that forced her to stop and think.

'_What now?' _she wondered. Where was she going with her life? How was it all going to work out? When would she and Neji come clean? What would his clan think? What would Jiji think? What if one of them died on a mission?

Naru sighed, but sucked it up. She wouldn't worry about this. Everything would work itself out, and she decided to let whatever happens, happen.

With that decision made, she put it out of her mind and continued to run, taking pleasure in scaring the villagers again.

After eating close to twenty bowls of ramen (Hey, it was a special occasion!), she decided to go to a Training Ground next to the one Neji's team practiced at. Before going there, Naru dropped by her house to grab her sealing work.

Naru had been making great progress, and now since she was a genin, she had extra determination to master that field. In the short week and a half leading up to the exams, she had gone from Expert Beginner to Advanced Intermediate.

She was fairly close to Expert Intermediate, but Naru had noticed that, of course, the farther you got, the harder it was. Usually, she could breeze through a level, easily mastering the techniques and seals that section of the book taught.

Naru had several things left to do in her Advanced Intermediate section before she could move on, and it was difficult, even for her. The harder it was for her, the more she was determined to get it right. The increasing difficulty actually worked in her favor.

Naru reached her little apartment, and sighed. She had noticed that it was just about the most outdated, tiny, old apartment you could possibly get in Konoha. Naru wasn't an idiot, and she knew it was because of her 'tenant'. Jiji couldn't get her anything nicer because the council prevented him from doing so.

Thus, Naru decided to take things into her own hands. She would plan it later, but from the money she earned doing missions, Naru would save it up. When she had enough, she would go on an apartment renovation shopping spree (dragging Neji along, of course!).

Suddenly, Naru froze. Missions. Ninja. Sensei.

Naru had forgotten to wait for her new sensei. And find out her new teammates. '_If only I hadn't made such a cool exit…no, actually, I would do that again, that was awesome. But now I have to go back and figure out who my teammates and sensei are.'_

Naru groaned before reluctantly turning around and heading back to the Academy.

It turned out her timing was great. The only two people left in the room were actually her teammates. Their sensei, according to Iruka, was notorious for being late. Not like, a few minutes late. No, their new sensei was usually _hours _late, which suited Naru just fine.

If he was late, she could sleep in, work on her sealing, do extra training, etc. The possibilities were endless.

The teammates weren't exactly great, but she'd deal with what she got. Maybe she'd even get promoted at the first chuunin exams and never have to deal with them again!

The teams were spanned out like this: Team Ten consisted of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akamichi. They were going to be taught by Asuma Sarutobi. Team Nine was still going from last year (That was Neji's team.). Team Eight included Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame. Their sensei was to be Kurenai Yuuhi. The other teams were just random people Naru didn't really know.

Naru was positioned on Team Seven. Her notoriously late sensei was Kakashi Hatake. Her teammates were Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha.

To be honest, she was pretty excited about her sensei. Her role model, the Fourth Hokage, had taught him. And he was supposed to have been a child genius. Hatake also had a Sharingan, given to him by one of his former teammates. Kakashi was known as the Copy Ninja, and had served in the ANBU for a while.

As for Sakura, well, Naru just didn't like her. At all. She had bright pink hair, which no one even knew if it was natural or not, and a super skinny body that told everyone she was on a diet. Which basically meant she was starving herself to stay skinny. Sakura didn't work out, so she had no muscles, wasn't even toned a little bit. She cared more about the latest fashion than improving her ninja techniques, very little chakra, and the worst part was this: she was one of the extremist Sasuke Uchiha fangirls.

She and Ino were at the top of the Sasuke Uchiha fangirl chain. They were basically the leaders of the club, and stalked him all the time. However, Naru didn't have as much as a problem with Ino because Ino actually put a little effort into her ninja career. She knew some family jutsu, worked on her throwing skills a little bit, and actually ate. Still, it was less than one should do if they wanted to be a ninja, but at least she did a little bit.

And finally, there was Naru's old rival, Sasuke Uchiha. They used to fight all the time, constantly trying to be better than the other, and that was a lot of what made Naru strive towards her goal of Hokage. She couldn't let the teme beat her!

Of course, once she found Neji and got to know him, she had lost the need for a rivalry. Their bond had slowly faded away, into a relationship of distant friends, nearly acquaintances. Neither of them would ever actually admit they were friends, but both knew it deep down.

Sakura was going to be pretty predictable. Naru would have to deal with the usual fangirl symptoms: squealing, obsession over Sasuke, no work ethic unless it involved Sasuke, accusations that she was stealing Sasuke, etc.

The Uchiha himself actually wasn't much of a variable either. Naru knew for a fact that Uchiha's didn't change much, if at all, so she figured most of what she had learned of Sasuke during their rivalry would be true now as well. His symptoms would be brooding, 'hn'ing being the only words he spoke, and complete emoness.

Naru had thought all of this within a few minutes, if that, of learning about the teams everyone was placed on. It had been about an hour since the actual exams, and the teacher didn't seem like he was going to be showing up anytime soon, so Naru decided to work on her chakra control some more.

Her way of going about that would be to simply sit on the ceiling and meditate. She was gonna plan out her evening with Neji. He would be so happy and proud of her. Maybe he'd be there first, and she'd rush into his welcoming arms, and he would embrace her while placing a kiss on the top of her head.

Now situated in a comfortable position on the ceiling of the classroom, Naru sat down, only to decide immediately to lie down instead. She sighed contentedly, thinking of Neji while she waited for her new teacher to come.

'_Even if everything else changes, and no one else is there for me, I can count on my Neji to stay with me, forever and always. He is my free bird.' _Naru thought contentedly. She had no feelings of fear or of worry for the future. As long as she had Neji, her future would always be bright. And it looked to her as though he planned to stick around for a long time.

Hey peeps-sorry for the shorter-than-normal chapter. Hope I kind of made up for it in the last paragraph there. Thank y'all for your patience and for keeping with me even though I'm such a bad updater. I don't know when I'll update next, but I cross my heart and hope for pie (yes, pie) that I'll update again soon, not like next year or something. 'Kay, I think that's all for now. Hope y'all liked it! Bye!


	10. Chapter 9: An Old Friend, Renewed

Hey guys! I'm finally back! Did you miss me? I'm SOOO sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER! I just wanted to concentrate on my final exams and now that they're over (I got out on Tuesday) and I had thought I could come back! But…then I've moved to a new house and so yeah. By the time you guys see this, it'll probably be Saturday or Sunday, but I'm writing this on Thursday. No wifi. I hope I can make this into one of the best chapters yet to make up for my being gone! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~And if I did that, I think I'd have a heart attack.~

Heart Attack

Demi Lovato

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha stared incredulously at his newly formed team; well, more specifically, his teammate, Naru. While he was too busy brooding about his predictament to pay attention, somehow Naru had managed to get up onto the ceiling. But that wasn't exactly what surprised him, really. It was more of the fact that she was sitting on the ceiling, meditating, and wasn't falling off. Yeah, that was the killer.

What had happened in the past few years that Naru was so much stronger than he was? How did she get from being about his equal to stronger than he himself?

He had watched their little rivalry type bond slowly fade away, with only a little regret. If any at all. It was his main goal in life to kill Itachi, not to form some trivial friendship that actually meant nothing.

But somehow, he began feeling a little sad. He didn't even know the reason why. Then his training had slowly but steadily declined because of it, and thus he wasn't able to reach his full potential. And to top that off, he had no one to compete with, no one to push him out of his comfort zone. No one to push him to become better.

And now he was paying for it. Obviously she didn't bother to spare him a second look once they began drifting away, and had gotten stronger while his strength and drive declined.

The young Uchiha wondered, not for the first time, what had caused her to distance herself from him. It wasn't that he was mean to her or her to him; they had always been that way. It was simply their way of bonding and encouraging each other to keep going, even though they'd never admit that.

And it wasn't him who left. He was all set to stick in it until he was strong enough to defeat Itachi, but that plan backfired. She must have been influenced by some outside source. Evidently, whatever that outside source was, it was good for her.

But he couldn't waste time thinking on that now. The past was the past. There had to have been a reason for what happened, but he couldn't afford to dwell on that now. Maybe one day he'd find out, or she'd tell him, but that day wasn't today.

Instead of revealing his thoughts, Sasuke smoothed his face and repressed his emotions before walking directly under Naru. Sakura squealed annoyingly in the background, something about how cool he looked when he walked, and his hair was totally gorgeous when it swayed in the wind.

Inwardly rolling his eyes, Sasuke looked up at Naru, only to find her staring calmly and serenely back, not saying a word. He kept his silence also.

How long he looked into her eyes, Sasuke wasn't sure. All he knew is that in place of the old, idiotic Naru, there was a smarter person in there, a wiser person. A happier and stronger person.

And he knew, in that moment, that he wanted to be that person too.

Sasuke smiled at her, just a brief small one she might not see. But she caught it. And smiled back. Maybe his team wouldn't be too bad after all.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was always late. Almost every ninja knew that. Today, he planned to make three lucky genin ninjas aware of that fact too.

When he figured that he should go get them so he wouldn't get in trouble with the Hokage, Kakashi decided to watch them first. Soon he deduced two things: one, he had a fangirl with pink hair on his team. And two, there might be a hidden friendship between two of the people gathered there.

The fangirl wasn't involved. Her Royal Pinkness wasn't good for anything other than obsessing over the Uchiha.

No, the two he was observing were Naru Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. At first glance, they seemed to hate each other. The Uchiha kid was always glaring at anything and everything, especially Naru.

Naru, on the other hand, was positioned on the ceiling. When she knew the Uchiha wasn't looking, she stared at him with a curious emotion on her face. Kakashi, much to his shock, couldn't identify that emotion.

But that was only once, and the rest of the time she seemed to be deep in thought, her eyes tightly closed. It was rather fascinating to watch her, really.

Her Royal Pinkness just stared at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes. When the Uchiha grunted in slight discomfort, Kakashi swore her eyes got bigger and she swooned.

Reluctantly preparing to jump down to meet them, Kakashi suddenly stopped. There was a new and interesting development in the team dynamic!

The massacre survivor walked slowly but surely directly under where Naru was sitting and looked up. Sasuke looked up at her, only to find her staring back down at him, face calm and serene.

The young Uchiha seemed to be transfixed by Naru's eyes. His face, that had been a mess of badly masked pain, changed to discovery, realization, and finally want.

Sasuke's mouth slipped into a small smile, obviously meant only for Naru's eyes. She saw the small uplifting of his lips, and she gave a miniscule one in return.

Kakashi wasn't exactly sure what had been resolved here, but what had once been a tense surrounding transformed into a beautiful, easy air of friendship. It was astonishing.

Of course, to those who perceived less, it was simply weird. Her Royal Pinkness destroyed the moment by squealing, "Sasuke! You're so cool!" and getting ready to leap at him to give him a hug, or even perhaps a kiss.

Sasuke turned to her in concealed horror. Kakashi sighed at the loss of the moment, and jumped in through the window. Sakura paused in mid-step, Sasuke whirled to see him, and Naru, though mildly startled, grinned brightly at him.

She looked even more like Minato up close. Naru jumped down from the ceiling, twisting to land on her feet before saying bluntly, "You're late, sensei."

Kakashi smirked. He liked this kid. "Alright, team. Meet me up on the roof." Sakura gaped at him when he used the shunshin to disappear. Naru walked up the wall of the academy while Sasuke looked on. Then he headed towards the stairs without a sound, with Sakura behind him crying, "Sasuke! You're so smart!"

Once they all had gathered on the roof, Kakashi initiated conversation. "Okay, time for introductions," he began. "Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. Emo Brooder, you go first."

"Fine," Sasuke started. "I like training and a friend of mine. I dislike pathetic fangirls and a certain relative. I have no hobbies other than training. My dream is to defeat someone and avenge something."

Her Royal Pinkness squealed at how awesome he was. She was already giving Kakashi a headache. "Okay, Her Royal Pinkness can go next."

The girl in mention glared at him. "My name is Sakura, if you didn't know. Not 'Her Royal Pinkness'." She glanced at Sasuke in hopes of impressing him before talking. "I like a certain someone and hate a certain someone," sighing at Sasuke and glaring at Naru in order. "My hobbies are reading and watching someone. My dreams…" She broke off there, squealing at Sasuke.

Kakashi twitched. Watching someone? Was this little pink haired girl a stalker? Shaking off his horror-induced trance, Kakashi nodded at Naru to begin. "And now, let's see Miss Blue." Naru was, after all, decked out in blue.

Naru grinned at him. "Okay. My likes are none of your business, my dislikes are fangirls, my hobbies are none of your business, and my dreams are also none of your business." She sat there, smiling brightly.

Kakashi glared slightly at the girl, not really meaning it. She had totally stolen his answer. "Fine. I guess it's my turn now. My answers are the same as Naru's." He smirked at his team, expecting some form of protest. He only got it from two.

Sasuke had been looking at Naru incrediously, before turning that same look onto him. Sakura was in an outrage, though. "What?!" the little pink firecracker cried. "Sensei, you gave us absolutely nothing to work with! How could you? How could you let Naru do the same thing?!"

Kakashi sighed, massaging his head after Her Royal Pinkness spoke up. Ignoring her complaints, Kakashi talked over her. "Alright, meet at Training Ground 9. No, wait. That came out wrong. Go to number 7." Then the new sensei disappeared, leaving a disaster in his wake.

Sakura immediately went for the stairs, storming back home. Sasuke shook his head in exasperated hopelessness before making to leave as well. Naru held him back.

"Hey, Sasuke, wait." Sasuke turned around curiously to see her leaning against the roof railing, not facing him. The sun setting in the picture and the soft breeze made the scene beautiful.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry. Don't ask me to elaborate, because I'm positive you know what I'm talking about. I'm not going to offer any excuses, or make any promises for my actions. I realize that I made a mistake."

Sasuke came over to stand by her, just listening. Naru was silent for a moment, seemingly searching for words.

"I'm also not going to tell you why it happened. All I'm going to say is I'm sorry, and that I'd like to start over if you'll forgive me. Only, I don't want to be rivals again. I want to start afresh as friends. Will you, or can you, forgive me?"

Naru looked up at him with those eyes, the ones he had just discovered were different earlier that day. And he found he couldn't say no. He wanted this to happen. He wanted a friend. Maybe, with time, even a best friend. He could definitely find that in her.

She could guide him to the right path. He wasn't stupid. Sasuke knew that the path he was currently walking wasn't the correct one. And he also knew it wasn't too late for him to be saved from it.

Looking out at the horizon while Naru patiently waited for an answer, Sasuke made the decision. One of the best of his life. "Yes," he said. "I will forgive you."

Naru gave him the most breathtaking smile he had ever seen, not just from her, but from anyone he had ever met. "Thank you," she breathed.

Then she stepped forward, giving him a hug. Sasuke stiffened. He hadn't been given a hug in years. Despite his uneasiness, Naru still held onto him, and slowly, with trembling arms, he embraced her back.

Naru's head was buried in his chest, giving relieved and happy tears. Their dissipating bond had bothered her more than she let on. He lowered his head onto hers. Suddenly, everything was perfect.

Sasuke Uchiha needed Naru Uzumaki in his life. Desperately. Now, she was. And neither of them were going to let go.

* * *

Later that night, around 11:15, Naru set off for her and Neji's special place. Deciding to walk, as she still had about 45 minutes until midnight, she stepped out the door of her apartment and locked it up.

Today had been interesting. Very interesting. First it was passing the exams, which now that she looked back on it, weren't that hard, then discovering her new team and finally fixing things with Sasuke.

Remembering her flashy exit from the examination room, Naru smirked. Everything had gone just as she planned, if not better. She made a mental note to learn the shunshin as soon as possible.

Maybe she could even remake the jutsu, so that when one used it there would be nothing left. Leaf ninjas left leaves, Sand ninjas left sand, Grass ninjas left grass, so on and so forth.

That had to be really annoying for the Kages. And the people who had to clean their mess up.

Anyways, she had then remembered that she had to wait for her team to be announced, and luckily her teammates were still there. But there was no sensei.

Then she had had that moment with Sasuke. Something had given her some sort of insight, because in his eyes, Naru saw everything. She saw the pain from his brother's actions and her withdrawal from him, the happiness he still had from being rivals with her, the fierce determination to kill his brother.

And she wanted to save him. Save him from going down the dark path of revenge. That's what led her to stop him from leaving.

Naru was really nervous when she began talking. She didn't disclose her relationship with Neji with Sasuke, though. At one point, she knew Neji and her were going to have to confess. But not now.

She and Neji were old friends. But their new relationship was, well, brand new. And before anyone knew about it, Naru wanted to explore it a little deeper, get used to it. She knew Neji felt the same.

Even if someone had seen them together on the lake, and they were now something of a legend, no one knew who they really were. Or what they were.

Naru had heard all kinds of theories over the story. Ghosts, spirits, clouds, undead, shapeshifters, she had heard it all. Someone even suggested they were from the future, but that idea was quickly shot down and ridiculed.

Suddenly she walked right into a tree, and realized she was at the edge of Training Ground 9. Her spirits lifted. Soon she would be reunited with Neji, and everything would be alright.

Naru smiled brightly and began running. Neji was something that couldn't wait. Soon her feet stopped of their own accord, just a tree behind the edge of the clearing. Naru peeked around it and saw her boyfriend, leaning casually against a tree on the other side.

Deciding to scare him a little, Naru crouched down and jumped lithely onto a low tree branch. Leaping off it, she used her hands to propel her through the trees, catching on branches before releasing it. A few seconds later, Naru was right above Neji.

Making absolutely no sound, she pounced. Landing right on Neji, the two fell laughing into the soft grass, before stopping at the lake's edge.

"I could feel you," the Hyuuga said. Naru pouted in disappointment. "You're too good," she replied.

Smirking, Neji came up into a sitting position, while Naru remained laying on the ground. "So," he began. "Are you going to tell me about your day?"

Naru grinned up at him and started to regal him with tales of the day. At the end, she pouted, "I'm glad I have Sasuke on my team. He was my…rival, of sorts, before I met you, and I drifted away from him. Now we've made up. I have a feeling we're the only relatively sane ones on the team."

Neji smiled gently at her. "That's great," he said soothingly. "Now, would you like to dance, or just stay here?"

Naru pondered her choices. She loved dancing with Neji, but, being too tired to get back up, she decided on just sitting there.

"I want to just lay here next to you," she replied. "Tell me about your day." Neji laid down next to her and told her about his day with his crazy team. Naru lifted her head and placed it on his chest, letting his soft voice wash over her.

Soon, she was fast asleep.

* * *

Hey y'all! Again, I'm really really really sorry at how long this took! I'll try to keep up with this more now that I'm on summer vacation! Hope you enjoyed! Bye!


	11. Chapter 10: The REAL Genin Exams

Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy! I'm back! How's life for y'all? Hope you liked the last chapter. And that you'll also like this one! Okay, nothing else to say, so…go ahead and read! (And review!)

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear.~

Home

Phillip Phillips

* * *

Naru woke up with a gasp the next morning. Laying in her bed for a moment, she realized Neji must have taken her home. _'He's so sweet,' _The Uzumaki thought.

Rolling out of bed, Naru stretched like a cat and sighed in satisfaction when several cracks came to her ears. Getting dressed slowly, Naru grinned. She was so lucky to have a sensei who was always late.

Since Kakashi was always late, she could sleep in, take more time in the morning to do whatever she wanted, work on seals, dance a bit, etc. The possibilities were endless.

Normally, the Hatake was late to everything by about three hours. By the time Naru was ready, she still had two hours left. She decided to go and see what Neji and his team were up to.

Within ten minutes flat, Naru had made it to Neji and co.'s usual training ground area. She saw that they were just conditioning today. Lee was whacking a random tree stump, green legs just a blur, fire in his eyes.

Tenten was working on her taijutsu. She seemed to be lacking in every area besides weapons, and if she didn't fix that soon, there would only be trouble in her future.

And Neji was working hard on expanding his Byakugan range of sight; Naru had no idea how he did that, but she knew that he was. Sighing, she decided to just watch him. His intelligent eyes looking everywhere, his body in a ready position, staring straight at her…wait a minute.

Naru blushed brightly. Yep, he had seen her already. And she had only been there fifteen minutes, tops! Deciding to show him she knew he knew she was there, Naru waved, a smirk plastered on her face.

Then, feeling bold, Naru blew a kiss at him. When he was positive no one was looking, Neji pretended to catch it. Naru rolled her eyes. He wasn't just sweet. He was also corny.

Naru glanced at the sun a while later, and realized she had about half an hour until Kakashi would show up at Training Ground 7. Reluctantly deciding to get going, she waited to get Neji's attention before waving goodbye and making her way over to meet her team.

Once there, she found a VERY angry Sakura and a bored Sasuke waiting for her. As she walked leisurely up to them, Sakura blocked her path and took a deep breath, about to begin her rant.

"NARU! WHERE WERE YOU?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE THREE HOURS AGO!" she screamed. Sasuke looked slightly scared but tried to hide it. Naru just looked at Sakura, bored.

"I was sleeping in, then I went to go do some errands. After all, our sensei is Kakashi Hatake." Naru said, and offering no other explanation, leaned against the bridge railing next to Sasuke.

Then, when Sakura was watching, Naru leaned over and whispered in Sasuke's ear, "Sasuke. Look at me like you love me. It'll make her go mad." Sasuke grinned for a fraction of a second before it disappeared. Only Naru knew that Sasuke had a prankster side, and although now she didn't pull as many pranks, the prankster in her never went away.

He nodded slightly. Waiting until Sakura started staring at him again, Sasuke leaned in closer to Naru and looked at her as if she was the best thing that ever happened to him. In a way, she was.

Then he leaned down and murmured in her ear, "So, how did you know Sensei was going to be late?"

"Because," she replied equally as softly, "He's Kakashi Hatake. Everyone in the ninja business, and some out of it, know he's always at least three hours late to everything. I happened to find out about it because I was worried who my teacher might be."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. "Hey, do you want to go to breakfast with me tomorrow morning? We should share our techniques and stuff." Naru asked.

"Yeah, that sounds nice." Sasuke smiled genuinely at her.

While that entire interaction was going on, Sakura looked on with a face of jealousy. "NARU! YOU'RE CORRUPTING HIM! I'M GONNA GET YOU!" she screamed in rage. Then she charged at a pace that was really slow for Naru. She and Neji had been working on their speed. Now both of them were faster than the average chuunin.

Naru looked on, bored, until Sakura pulled back her fist to punch her. Then Naru just caught it with one hand, yawning. Man, those training sessions with Neji did her a heck of a lot of good.

Naru released Sakura's hand after squeezing it a bit. "Please don't attack me again." Naru said politely. Sakura got up slowly and backed away, nursing her fist.

Right at that moment, their sensei decided to show up. "Hello, my lovely little students! Let's get started on the test!"

Naru nodded, confident that she would pass it, but Sakura looked indignant and Sasuke perked up a bit. "What test, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Well, you didn't think that you were genin straight after you took the 'exams' there, did you? No, those were to weed out some of the weakest kids. You made it here to take another test. Only the strongest will pass." Kakashi answered her.

"Now, I have two bells." He held them up so the kids could see. "You have to get the bells to pass. I want you to come at me with the intent to kill."

"But, sensei," Sakura began. "There's only two bells."

"I know," the Hatake responded. "Now, you have three hours to get a bell." He set down a timer on a nearby tree stump. "Go!"

Immediately the almost-genin were gone. However, Kakashi wasn't a jounin for nothing, and he could sense all of them. _'Well, this'll be interesting.' _He thought. Then he pulled out an orange book from one of his many pockets and began to read.

* * *

Naru smirked from her hiding place in a tree. She wasn't stupid. Her sensei knew where she and the others were. And there was no way any of them could defeat a jounin. Sakura would be dead in an instant. She and Sasuke might put up a bit of a fight, but they still wouldn't win.

So, because none of them would be able to defeat him, the object must be to see how they could function as a team. The Hatake could fix their weakness, but he couldn't really fix the team chemistry much.

Naru used skills gained from dancing to slip behind Sasuke without a sound. Then she tapped his shoulder. He whipped around and Naru clapped a firm hand around his mouth. Sasuke relaxed when he realized it was her. Naru put up a thumbs-up sign and a questioning face on. He nodded, and she let go.

"Alright," she said. "I think the object of this is to see if we'll work together as a team. None of us can defeat him, but together we might get a smidgen of a chance. Are you willing to work with me?"

"Yeah," the Uchiha said, trusting that she was right.

"Are you willing to work with Sakura?" Naru winced when she said that. Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "Can she even help us?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Probably not. But we need her to get past this. You in?" Naru responded. Nodding, the two went to get the pink-haired fangirl. They had no idea that their close-but-not-quite-yet sensei had heard everything.

They found Sakura lying on the ground, twitching. Apparently Kakashi had done a number on her. With genjutsu. Naru sighed, a mixture of pity for herself and Sasuke to have the girl on the team, and amazement that Sakura couldn't even repel this basic genjutsu.

"Okay, let's wake her up, get the bells, and go complain to Jiji." Naru commanded. Sasuke took the liberty of waking her up by shaking her shoulder. Sakura shot up to a sitting position, and when she saw her crush alive and well, she burst into tears. "It was so horrible!" she cried. "You were hurt, Sasuke!"

Naru and Sasuke rolled their eyes. "So, pinkie, wanna work with us?" Naru said. Sakura pouted. "My name isn't pinkie! And I don't want to work with you. I want to work with him." The him was obvious.

Sasuke sighed. "It's both of us or nothing," he laid it out flat for her. Sakura giggled. "Anything for you, Sasuke."

"Thanks, 'suke," Naru grinned at him.

"Sure, 'ru." Sasuke smiled back. Sakura glared at Naru heatedly. "How dare you take my Sasuke!" she fumed.

Ignoring her, Sasuke turned to Naru. "So, what's the plan?"

"So, I was thinking something like this…" Naru gave the plan to them. Once they were set, Sakura was sent out as a distraction.

"Oh, so you've finally woken up. I was starting to wonder." Kakashi said boredly. "Yeah, well, you won't get me again! Kyaaaaah!" Sakura yelled, raising her fist in preparation to punch.

"That was the signal! Let's go, Sasuke!" Naru whisper-yelled. The two went on opposite sides of a distracted Kakashi. Naru quickly drew a seal on a pad of paper she always kept with her, and threw it at the Hatake. It landed on his shoulder. Perfect.

The seal was designed to make the thing it touched more flammable. It was supposed to be used for firewood or the like, but it served its purpose well here. Using her speed gained from Neji's encouragement and help, Naru raced as quietly as she could to Sasuke.

This all happened within a few seconds. Sakura was closer to Kakashi now, and he was getting ready to stop her punch. When Sasuke saw Naru, he nodded to her and began the sequence of hand signs for his signature technique.

Naru got ready as well, flipping through handsigns for a wind technique she knew. She bumped into Sasuke, using him to stop her from running abruptly, and they continued the signs shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball!" Sasuke yelled.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Naru said. She had managed to stop yelling when she performed a technique.

When the two jutsus hit each other, the wind enhanced and strengthened the fire, making it at least twice as big as it had been originally. Naru grinned. This was epic. Sasuke watched with wide eyes. Maybe others could help him. Maybe he didn't have to do this alone.

Sakura saw the fireball coming, and she ran right past the confused Hatake. "What the…" he began. Then he turned and saw the giant ball of fire coming at him, but it was too late. The fire engulfed him.

Naru and Sasuke looked at each other with wide eyes. Did they just kill their sensei?

But a few seconds later, Kakashi walked out of the fire like it was nothing, and put it out with a simple water jutsu. Then the timer rang. "I'm impressed," the lazy jounin began. "You managed to figure out my little game. But, you can't pass because you don't…" he trailed off when Sakura came out of the trees, holding the bells. Sasuke and Naru jumped down to join her.

"Fine," Kakashi sighed. "I had another trick up my sleeve, but I just don't wanna do it right now. So, you guys pass." Naru and Sakura cheered, while Sasuke gave a small smile. When they looked back to where their sensei was, there was only an empty spot. He had left a note that said, 'Meet at this Training Ground at 7 a.m. tomorrow.'

Naru immediately changed the time from 7 to 10 in her mind. "Okay, Sasuke. You ready to go complain?" Sasuke started to nod his assent, but stopped abruptly. "Wouldn't that be bad for us if we complained and we're just newly made genins straight out from the academy?"

"Nope," Naru responded. "The Hokage is my Jiji. He raised me for a few years." Sasuke looked at her in awe. "Alright then," he said. "Lead the way."

* * *

Alright! Finally, the real genin exams! Now I can get this party on the road again! Hopefully I can work this thing up to the Wave mission! (Is that even what it's called…?) Hope y'all enjoyed! See you!


	12. Chapter 11: Good or Bad News?

Heeeyy guys! Guess what? This week I had my [insert double-digit number here] birthday! Sorry, but I won't tell you how old I am. :P Thank you for all the reviews! Made it to 40! Anyways, keep it up! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~So tell me what you want, what you really really want!~

Wannabe

Spice Girls

* * *

Naru and Sasuke walked to the Hokage Tower, with a comfortable silence surrounding them. Both were just enjoying each others' company.

Soon enough, they were standing in front of the Hokage Tower doors. Pushing them open, Naru walked straight past the receptionist, who gave her the evil eye but knew by now not to make her mad.

Naru knew that Jiji never had appointments now, and even if he was he'd probably make time for her after he punished her for interrupting. So she boldly threw open the doors leading to the Hokage's office, Sasuke trailing behind her.

The Third was sitting at his desk, a cloud hanging over his head and his hand speedily signing papers. He had a long way to go, from the looks of not only his desk but the entire room. Sensing their presence immediately, the aged warrior brightened at the sight of Naru.

"Hello, Naru. What a pleasant surprise. And you must be Sasuke Uchiha. Please, come in. I could use a distraction from this paperwork. What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Hey Jiji. Sasuke and I wanted to tell you about an issue concerning our other team member. Sakura Haruno." While she was saying this, Naru plopped in a squishy chair that faced the Hokage's desk, Sasuke choosing simply to stand next to her.

The Third's brow furrowed. "Sakura Haruno? What about her?"

"Well, to begin, she has absolutely no work ethic, unless it is to benefit 'her' Sasuke or to increase her chances with him. She's fairly smart, but she has very little chakra and no physical strength. Her hair is long and pink, and she couldn't dispel the simplest genjutsu ever." Naru sighed. "Normally, I would think this could all be fixed, but her crush on Sasuke is pretty much an obsession. She has virtually nothing going for her."

Sasuke verified Naru's statement. "Yes, all she does is scream and rely on her teammates. We're called a team for a reason, and so far only Naru and I seem compatible."

Naru's Jiji frowned, deep in thought. Her mother was on the civilian council as well, but all she did was screech about how her daughter was clearly the best. She kept trying to gain custody of the last Uchiha, saying that she would be the perfect mother for him. Her husband had left her a year after Sakura was born, saying he couldn't handle any more of her schemes.

Maybe it would be best to nip this problem in the bud. Sakura did anything her mother wanted. If she turned out to be much like her mother, this could be a potential problem. All she would be on Team 7 was dead weight.

But then again, perhaps the situation would just take time. Sakura may grow out of her crush and begin to take the life of a ninja seriously. But for some reason, Hiruzen was doubtful of that fact. He had a feeling that if one asked why she was a ninja, she would say because doing so would please her Sasuke.

And really, if she had no other motivation, this life was probably not for her. Even the worst student in the Academy, if they had enough motivation, willingness to work hard, and a decent teacher, could become a good ninja.

But she had none of those things. Well, maybe Kakashi was an okay teacher. Depends on if he got out of his laziness.

Deciding to deal with the consequences later, and realizing that he had left his young audience waiting for an answer, Sarutobi sighed and looked both genins in the eye.

"Are you positively sure that Sakura Haruno could do nothing to help the team, is unfit for ninja life, and has an unsafe obsession over Saskue Uchiha?" he asked.

Both new ninjas nodded immediately, absolute certainty shining on their faces.

"Very well," the Third Hokage said. "Sakura Haruno will be taken off Team 7, enrolled in the civilian academy, and referred to a psychologist about her possessive crush. Team 7 will be the first team in history to start out with only two students. Good luck."

That said, he dismissed them from his office and called his secretary. "Get me Sakura Haruno at once."

* * *

Later that night, Naru met up with Neji in their clearing. When she saw him waiting, she sighed. "Neji, I feel like we've been…I don't know…drifting or something lately. I want to do something with you that we can like, bond over or learn more about each other. What do you think?"

Neji nodded in affirmation. "I feel the same way. How about we ask each other questions while we dance? And no avoiding or skipping questions or anything. That way we can learn even more about each other than we already do."

"Sounds perfect, Neji. Shall we?" Naru held her hand out for him to take. Neji smirked.

"I do believe it is my job to ask you do dance, but just this once let's do it your way." Neji said. Taking her hand gently, he led her out onto the lake.

"So," he continued. "Do you want to start, or should I?" Neji asked.

"Well, I've got nothing right now, so how about you start?" Naru said.

"Very well. What is your first memory?" Neji asked.

"When I was kicked out of my orphanage. My turn. How do you get your hair so soft?"

"I rub in my shampoo thoroughly, rinse it out, then put in my conditioner, rinse it out, and then I have a mousse I use to make it shiny and soft. How did you discover your control over water?"

Questions like that went on through the night, and both left the clearing satisfied with how things progressed. Feeling much closer to the one their significant other, Naru and Neji didn't dream. For once, reality was better than dreams.

* * *

Breakfast with Sasuke was an enjoyable event, but wasn't exactly a standout kind of memory. They ordered their food and just got to know each other better. Things like favorite colors, favorite foods, etc. Each also shared their techniques and came up with a few combination attacks and the like that would have to be tested, but had potential.

When they leisurely strolled into Training Ground 7, their sensei was waiting for them. Kakashi complained, "Guys, seriously, being late was my thing."

Naru and Sasuke just laughed. "We know you're late to everything," Naru began, "So we went to breakfast together. If you want, sometime all of us should go out to eat as a team."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Anyways, I have some news. And although I'm not exactly allowed to express my opinion on this matter, I think it's good news."

"Sakura has been removed from the team. We are going to be the first team in Konoha history to consist of just two students and one sensei. Let's make the most of our given fame." The Hatake said, actually a bit excited for once.

Naru and Sasuke grinned at each other, and decided not to say anything to Kakashi about their influence. He obviously didn't know.

"That's awesome, Sensei." Sasuke said. "I'm kinda glad she's off the team, because she really didn't contribute much."

"Great. Alright, now that that's over, I asked the Hokage if we could take a week or three or maybe four to do some _intense_ training. Yes, intense is the key point. Here's the general breakdown," their new sensei began.

"The first week will be physical training. Every muscle in your body, and in places you didn't know about, will be sore. The second week, we are going to pick the perfect weapon for you and I'm gonna give you the crash course of a lifetime in it. The third week you're going to discover your element and learn some jutsus in it. The fourth, and final week, is going to be a combination of review and a test." Kakashi took a breath.

"The reason for this training is because the shinobi council doesn't believe that we can survive being a three-man team. I want to prove them wrong. However, this will come at a cost." Their sensei began pacing.

"You will sleep together, cry together, sweat together, eat together, live together. You will be hurting everywhere imaginable. You may come to hate me. Are you willing to pay the price?" At the last sentence, the famous ninja stopped and looked them both in the eye.

"Yes," the two remaining team members declared at the same time. Naru and Sasuke were willing to go through the hardest training available to prove that they and their sensei were strong.

Kakashi smiled. "I had a feeling you would say that. I also called in some favors with some colleagues of mine. They will teach you in areas that I cannot."

Suddenly three teachers dropped down from out of nowhere. Naru thought one of them seemed familiar, one she knew only from watching, and the other was a complete unknown.

"Sasuke, Naru, meet Anko Mitarashi, Gai Maito, and Ibiki Morino. Anko will be your instructor in both the weapon week and the review/test week." Anko smiled viciously at the duo. "Hello. I'm sure we'll be the best of friends." She said.

"Gai will be your physical training master. He is a master in taijutsu."

"Hello, my new youthful students! Studying under me, you will be stronger in no time!" Gai smiled widely, making his bright white teeth 'ping'.

Naru shuddered. Sasuke glanced questioningly at her.

"And finally, Ibiki will be Anko's partner in crime with your weapons and test week. I am going to teach you in elemental training. Any questions?" Kakashi finished up.

Sasuke had one. "Sensei, you said we're going to live together. Where are we going to stay?"

"Good question, Sasuke. The six of us will be staying at one of the Hokage's training places. Do not do anything to abuse this privilege. The training starts the day after tomorrow. Tonight, pack your bags. Meet me here tomorrow morning at the same time. We'll take you to the special grounds and you can have the day to settle in. This will be your only break. Anything else?"

Naru and Sasuke mutely shook their heads. "Good," Kakashi said. "See you tomorrow." Then the four senseis disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The teammates stood still for a moment. "What just happened?" Naru asked quietly. She was a bit stunned.

"We just signed on to the hardest training course that exists. I hope we make it out of here alive." Sasuke said. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. I need to pack." When Naru nodded her goodbye to him, Sasuke left.

* * *

Hey peeps! Sorry, I usually try to update on Sundays, but I guess this one is a little late in the day. Hope you all enjoyed this.


	13. Chapter 12: Coping and Suspicions

Hey peeps. I wanted to update faster this week than normal because I'll be out of town and I won't have any access to my computer. Anyways, I wanted to thank y'all for everything. Reviews, favorites, follows, they make my day. Please keep it up!

And a few quick things before the ever-important-but-annoying-cause-everyone-knows-y ou-don't-own-anything disclaimer and the usual song thingy I wanted to say some stuff. I don't usually do this but I felt like it this time. Here goes:

Okay, first person: This is to ultima-owner. Hope you see this. I just thought your comment about the harpy was really funny. I feel the same way! Even in the original anime/manga/whatever, I just never liked her.

Second person: schnookums. Thanks for wishing me a happy birthday. Whenever yours is, or if it's already passed this year, happy early, belated, or maybe even just birthday to you too.

And last but not least: hinatamesias18Echizen. Bit of a typeful there. Anyways, I don't speak or read or write any other language besides English (And a little German) but since your review was in Spanish (I think?) I tried to translate it in the Google translator. Needless to say, it didn't work. Google translator sucks. I got 'if sakura and does not interfere in team 7… and finished his training and I hope to hear' either way if you can type English or something it would be helpful to me. Sorry for not understanding.

See peeps, I actually do read all the reviews…and I think now peeps is going to be my official name for you guys. I really like it. Moving on!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~Baby don't forget my name, when the morning breaks us.~

Bittersweet

Ellie Goulding

* * *

Naruto ran to her house, barely winded, mind in overdrive. This was going to be hard on Neji. And on her. And on their relationship! But this was the kind of thing that grown-ups had to deal with, right? So since she wasn't a little girl anymore, she'd have to deal with it too.

But, still…not seeing Neji would break her heart. Naru didn't know if she could survive without him. Living a life without him just seemed...desolate, cold, empty. She couldn't go back to the way it was before him.

And her teachers! She had _Maito Gai _as a teacher! From the way the other two looked, they sure as heck weren't gonna be spouting rainbows and butterflies, giving candy to children with bright smiles on their faces.

_Heck no._

They were the kind of people who spouted rainbows and butterflies when they were torturing other people. Their 'candy' was terror. And the smiles were because they were enjoying it.

Naru knew that Gai was insane, but she could deal with that. Blinding combination of green and orange, probably. Pingy shiny white teeth and thumbs-up? Okay. Bowl-cut? Easy. Declarations of youth? …She'd get over it eventually.

But the **sunset** was the real enemy. Yes, **sunset **needed to be in bold. It was evil. When Gai was just overflowingly happy, he didn't show it in the ways most people would show it.

When he was happy, or 'youthful' as Gai liked to say, a **sunset **appeared behind him. Not just any **sunset**. It wasn't a genjutsu, either. One could actually hear the crash of waves and feel sand, and shells, and everything would focus in on Gai. It was pure horror.

Especially when the crying started. Crocodile tears would start to stream down his face, and a huge smile would form. Then Gai would try to hug you. So you could be enveloped in youthfulness.

There was a saying in Konoha, too. About Gai. Every ninja was told it, old or new, experienced or fresh, genin or ANBU. _'Beware the sunset.' _Of course, no one knew what it meant until they either met Gai, saw it happen, or was a victim of it.

Naru shuddered. She'd have to avoid that at ALL costs. But maybe telling Sasuke about it would just slip her mind. She grinned deviously.

Shaking her head, Naru looked around her bedroom, which she had somehow wandered into. Grabbing a duffel bag from the back of her closet, she packed three sets of her ninja clothing, a pair of pajamas, some underwear, as many kunai and shuriken as she could fit in there, a pair of civilian clothes (you never know) and her favorite picture of Neji.

Sighing, Naru sat down on her bed after she finished packing and suddenly very sleepy. Deciding to take a nap, Naru laid down her head to rest after the exhausting day.

* * *

Naru awoke with a start, leaping out of bed. Realizing it was completely dark out, she began to panic. Swinging around to see her clock, its red numbers seemed to glare at her. It was 12:30.

Naru's face paled. She was way late. She frantically raced out the door, not caring that she was barefoot. Naru hoped Neji hadn't given up and left. She needed to tell him about the next few weeks, and this would be her only chance to do so.

Before she knew it, Naru was flying out into the clearing. Neji had just turned around to leave. Looking back in great surprise, he saw a glimpse of bright blonde waist-length hair before he was tackled to the ground.

Both laid there for a moment, catching their breath. Naru, because of her mini panic attack and her run to their clearing. Neji because his breath had been knocked out of him. Landing flat on your back on the unforgiving dirt kind of does that to you.

"Sorry, Neji," Naru said. "I was so worried that I'd miss you tonight that I didn't realize I was here until it was too late."

Neji smiled gently, a teasing tone in his voice. "And what, may I inquire, made the lovely lady I have the pleasure of knowing so fashionably late?"

Naru grinned. Neji was such a gentleman. "Well, my dashing prince, I was so tired I decided to take a nap. As such, I simply overslept."

Neji let out a laugh. "Only you, Naru. Now, let's see what we can do about our current position." He gestured to the entangled mess that somehow was two people.

"Oh, right, of course." Naru said. She untangled herself from him, from the feet up, until she lifted up her head. Suddenly, she stopped.

She was laying on top of Neji. And their faces were just a couple short inches away. Naru blushed heavily and rolled off him. Neji blushed too, but he was able to successfully hide it from his girlfriend.

Naru opted for just pretending like nothing had happened, but the incident burned itself deep into her mind. Their surroundings were just too perfect, as well. She sighed in regret.

"So, besides the joy of seeing you again, I wanted to talk to you about something," Naru began. Neji smiled and nodded in consent, so she continued on.

"My other teammate, the pink-haired one I told you about, got kicked off the team. She's going to some kind of civilian school. So now it's just me, Sasuke, and our sensei. We're going to be the first three-man team in Konoha history or something, apparently, and the shinobi council is wary of that fact.

They don't think we can survive on our own. We have to prove them wrong, and to do that we have to go through intense training. Like, super intense. Kakashi has hired three other teachers that specialize in areas he can't give us complete instruction in. We have Anko Mitarashi, Ibiki Morino, and Maito Gai." Naru cringed at the last teacher's name.

She could see the curiosity in Neji's pale lavender-white eyes. "I appreciate that you feel that you can tell me stuff like that," he said, "but what's the cause of concern? When you said 'I need to talk to you about something', I was really nervous that it was about us."

"No, no, no. I am SO happy with you Neji. You're the most important person in my life, and you'll always be the most important. I can't live without you," Naru said, boldly at first, but getting quieter and quieter as she kept speaking. She covered her face with her hands, not wanting to believe she had just said that aloud.

Neji smiled, only this was one of his 'extreme happiness' smiles. She had only seen that smile when she agreed to be his girlfriend. And now. Other times, he gave her the 'Naru' smile, the one he only ever gave to her.

"Naru," he said, prying her hands off her face. "I feel the exact same way. I can't, won't, and don't want to live without you. You are my world. I don't know what this feeling is quite yet, but when I figure it out I'm going to tell you right away."

Naru felt her face burn, in a good way. She nodded. Not being able to resist, Naru hugged him tightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Reluctantly releasing him, she finally answered his question. "What it has to do with you is that the training goes on for four weeks. And it won't be happening at Training Ground 7, where we normally are. We're going away to some kind of big training facility/house that belongs to Jiji. I'm not going to be able to see you until after four weeks are up," Naru blurted out, her eyes beginning to fill with rare tears.

Neji sat, shocked. The idea of not seeing Naru again for four weeks was crippling. He just wanted to sit down somewhere and, to be blunt, cry his eyes out. There was absolutely no way he could just not see her, not dance with her, not talk with her, or anything. He would go crazy!

Neji calmed down and stopped his whirling down the spiral of doom. He was the man in this relationship. He had to take care of Naru first. His own feelings came second. Neji suppressed his sadness and looked over at Naru.

He was stunned to see her crying. Without any hesitation, Neji laid down next to her and opened his arm to invite her to lay down as well.

Naru saw this, and seized the opportunity. She let her upper body fall to the ground, and rolled towards Neji's chest.

She pressed her whole body to his side, and he held her, stroking her hair, until he heard the easy breath of sleep coming from her.

Naru was laying on her left side, one arm flung across his chest, holding him tight, and her right leg had somehow drifted to rest on top of Neji's legs. Her head fit perfectly right under his jawbone.

Neji smiled in content, letting the feeling of tranquility wash over his body. Soon enough, he fell asleep as well, savoring Naru's warm embrace.

I was gonna end the chapter here, but I figured since you guys are getting this early and it's a long way until the next Sunday after this weekend's I'll give you a little more, if that's alright.

Naru awoke slowly, her eyes bleary from the best night of sleep she had had in a long time. She only got that kind of sleep when she was with Neji. Naru smiled happily, remembering how she drifted off.

They were still in the clearing, but it was daylight. The sun was peeking in through the dense trees. Naru gasped. As much as she came here, she had never seen it in the daytime.

It was still beautiful, but for some reason she found she preferred the night over the day. Shaking off her random thoughts, Naru turned her gaze to the side and was met by Neji's neck.

Both had been so tired that when they finally fell asleep, neither moved at all. Neji was still asleep. His chest moving up and down slightly was the only indication that he was alive.

Naru was just going to drift off into happy oblivion again until she realized that today was the day she had to leave. And Neji had to get to training. He was probably really late by now. She would be too, if she didn't leave in the next five minutes.

Groaning because she didn't want to have to leave, Naru looked at Neji's face and couldn't help herself. She leaned down and let her lips touch his forehead. Neji's face scrunched up before a smile appeared on his face and his eyes opened.

Seeing Naru so close to him, he blushed. "Wait, why are we here? It's daylight. We only meet here at…" he trailed off as it clicked. "Oh, no." He said in horror.

"Oh, yes," Naru replied. "And it's going to be worse if we don't get going. C'mon." Naru got to her feet and extended a hand for Neji to take.

He took it and once he was securely on his feet, brushed himself, all not letting go of her hand. His hair and clothes were a bit disheveled, but Naru decided not to tell him that. He looked more…Neji that way, instead of the stoic Hyuuga he had to pretend to be.

Naru sighed and looked at the sky. Looking down, she gathered her courage and took Neji's other hand, silently asking him to look her in the eyes.

"Don't look so down about this," she said. "It'll be over before you know it. You have a picture of me, right? So you can just look at it and be reminded of me. We'll be fine."

"I suppose you're right," the Hyuuga said, still depressed that she was leaving. Of course, if you didn't know him very well, you wouldn't notice it; in fact you wouldn't notice any emotions at all. But Naru knew him better than anyone else. So she could see the signs he was giving off.

"Hey," she said softly. She placed her fingers under Neji's chin and gently made him look at her. "I have to go. But I'll give you something to remember me by."

She leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Blushing and happy, she pulled the boy into a quick but fierce and meaningful hug. The next moment, she was gone, with no evidence that she had ever been there.

Neji's jaw dropped. His cheek was now on fire. He touched it slowly, and smiled a true smile. The next second he was gone as well, leaving no trace. The grass they had laid on all night swayed in the breeze, and soon the indent their bodies had left had vanished.

* * *

Tenten was suspicious. And that wasn't a good thing. Usually people got hurt when she was suspicious. Or angry. Or sad. Or any mood really. But suspicious and angry were the worst.

Her teammate and, admittedly, crush, hadn't shown up for training today. He was always there for training, right on the dot and he never missed a day. Except that one time when Hiashi had taken him away for family business. Otherwise, his record was spotless.

So when Neji hadn't shown up, she had worried. Then she figured he was just running behind a little. He'd show up in the next few minutes. She kept having to renew that statement.

But when he hadn't shown up at 11:30, Tenten was almost positive he wasn't coming. Even though they still had training until five, sometimes later.

Then randomly, at 11:45, Neji burst into the clearing. Gai and Lee hadn't taken notice right away, but of course, he was on her radar almost constantly because she liked him.

"Neji?" she asked in concern and curiosity. "You came. What took you so long?"

Neji looked like a deer caught in headlights for only a fraction of a second. In fact, it was so fast that Tenten wondered if she was only seeing things. Blinking, when she refocused on him, the emotion was gone, and he was back to his normal stoic personality.

"I was…held up," he said. "I'm fine." By this time, Gai and Lee had noticed the commotion and came to stand by Tenten.

"I'm sorry for missing some of training, Gai-sensei. I'll try not to do it again." Neji apologized. Tenten took a closer look at her crush. His hair and clothes were a little messed up, looking wrinkled in spite of the owner's attempts to smooth them out. His cheeks had just the slightest tint of red in them, and his eyes practically shone.

Her eyes widened. What had he been doing? Why was he so non-pristine, like he normally was, and why did he have that redness in his cheeks? Was he _blushing_?

Tenten frowned, and her eyes narrowed. This was very suspicious. And she was going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

Hey peeps! Hope you guys enjoy the early update! I dunno when I'll update again, but I promise I will by next Sunday! (Not the one coming up later this week, the one after it.) I'm gonna miss y'all this weekend! Anyways, I gotta go. Bye! P.S., This is the longest chapter I've written yet!


	14. Chapter 13: Begin: Extreme Training

Hey peeps! It's been a bit. Missed you all. Anyways, I'm doing this kinda late at night, so I apologize for any mistakes or whatever. Thank you all for the reviews and follows and favorites. It means the world to me. I was blown away when I saw how many people visited my story when I last posted. Over 700! Oh yeah, ultima-owner. Love your snide comments. They always make me laugh. And if anyone has any ideas for like a song I could use for before the chapter please comment and tell me. Thanks peeps!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~Something about you now I can't quite figure out. Everything she does is beautiful. Everything she does is right.~

You and Me

Lifehouse

* * *

Naru ran to her house first, grabbing her bag, running a comb through her hair, and taking a cup of ramen along for a quick breakfast. She had been getting better at not eating ramen for every meal of the day, but it was just faster.

Slamming and locking the door behind her, she shoveled the ramen in her mouth as she sped down the streets of Konoha. Naru saw a trash can nearby and flung the ramen cup towards it. Perfect shot.

Soon she reached Training Ground 7, and realized that her sensei, luckily, wasn't there yet. Naru collapsed next to Sasuke, who had been watching her with some alarm, and began sucking in air. Even if she was pretty fast and her training with Neji had benefited her a lot, anyone would be breathing hard after how much she had run.

When her breathing returned to normal, Naru glanced sideways at Sasuke and said, "Hi."

Sasuke smirked. "You racing in here like something's after you, collapse out of breath next to me, and the first thing you say is hi?"

Naru shrugged. "Yep," she grinned. "So, are you ready for today? And the next four weeks?" she asked.

Sasuke sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be. I have this weird ominous feeling about the guy in the green suit, though. I have no idea why, but it feels like he's more dangerous than the other three combined somehow."

Naru inwardly smirked evilly. "Yeah, it's weird. You get used to it. Anyways, what do you think your element will be?"

"It'll probably be fire or something. I am, after all, a Uchiha." They made small talk like this until their sensei showed up ten minutes later.

Kakashi poofed out of nowhere in front of them. It would startle most people, but for very trained ninjas and people who knew Kakashi fairly well, it was normal.

"Good morning my cute students! You both know what today is." His face got scary. "Extreme training time." He said in a slow dramatic voice.

Naru rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. We get it, sensei. Today is day one of super really hard extreme training program. That's nice. Can we get going? I want to explore the place. And get this over with."

Kakashi glared at her for ruining his fun. "Fine," he pouted. "But what's got you so excited to get back? Someone waiting for you?" he teased.

"Whaaaat?" Naru said nervously. "I don't have anyone waiting for me. Psh, that's ridiculous." Her cheeks were turning bright red. "Can we just go?"

Kakashi and Sasuke were surprised. Naru's reaction to Kakashi's teasing was very suspicious. Maybe there was someone in her life they didn't know about.

"Alright," Kakashi began. "I'll lead you there. But this isn't over, Naru." He pointed at her childishly, wagging his finger. Naru just groaned and covered her face.

Sasuke looked at Naru, unsure, but followed Kakashi without a word. Naru sighed, slung her bag over her shoulder, and caught up to the other two.

* * *

Half an hour of fast traveling through dense forest later, they arrived. It was a pretty place. There was a large clearing, where the house was placed, and everywhere you looked there were trees. A small creek could be seen, and birds were chirping brightly. The sun shone down on the clearing, and it seemed more like a vacation home than an awesome training facility.

Naru and Sasuke's jaws dropped at the same time. The place was amazing. Naru recovered first. It was only because the clearing she shared with Neji was more stunning than this place. Sasuke wasn't so lucky. He hadn't seen such beauty, at least for a long time.

"Sensei, this place rocks!" Naru exclaimed. "Can we go inside and explore?" She said, feet already inching towards the house. Kakashi laughed.

"Sure, Naru. Just don't open the door with the large red marking on it. That's my room." He said.

Naru grinned hugely, and before they could blink, she was gone. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. That girl was a firecracker.

Kakashi stared down at Sasuke. "Hey, cute student, keep an eye on my other cute student. I want you to protect her, at the cost of your life, okay? Somehow, she seems to have a kind of aura around her and the people who meet her become protective and caring about her. She means a lot to me, and I can tell she means a lot to you, too. Can I trust you?" he asked, all traces of joking gone from his face.

Sasuke nodded. "She's my best friend. I would never let her get hurt, or die, even if you didn't say anything."

Kakashi nodded. "Good. Now, let's go and see what Naru's up to. Knowing her, she's already unpacked and made herself at home."

The duo walked to the house at a leisurly pace, the promise of protecting the only girl on their team weighing on their minds and strengthing the bond between student and teacher.

Stepping into the household, all was oddly quiet. Then they heard some rustling coming from down the hall to the left. The house wasn't a complex design, exactly.

Coming in the front door, right in front was a large kitchen with windows that looked out to the forest. Looking right, there was a hallway. Looking past that to the right, there was a formal dining room.

To the left of the kitchen was another hallway, and past that to the left was a living room, with a couch, two chairs, and a tv. Down the hallway to the right were the rooms that contained workout gear, tools, weapons, that kind of thing. The hallway to the right led to six bedrooms, just enough for everyone to have their own space.

Following the slight noise, Kakashi and Sasuke discovered an open door at the end of the hallway. Naru was unpacking and putting away her things. All the rooms had a bed, a bedside table, a closet, and a desk.

The two watched in silence as she hurried around, sorting her clothes and hanging them up. Soon, she was finished. Then she seemed to remember something, and reaching down in her bag, she pulled out a picture of someone.

She sighed and looked a little sad for a moment, before fixing her face and setting the picture on the bedside table. Sasuke and Kakashi pouted in frustration, because they didn't see who it was.

Looking up, she gasped in surprise. "What are you two doing staring at me?" she yelled, once she got over her shock. "Don't you have anything better to do? Go get unpacked, and I'll make lunch." Her voice dropped down to a normal talking pitch.

"Yes, ma'am," the two answered, much to Naru's shock, and their shock. But it felt right. Like it had always been this way. The trio were too much of strangers to each other to be considered a family, but maybe someday soon they could have a chance at it.

Naru smiled softly at them. "Sorry for yelling at you. But really, it was creepy. You guys can't do that to a girl. Come to the kitchen when you're done."

She made her way out of her temporary room and down the hallway to the kitchen. She smiled happily. It was much nicer than the one in her apartment.

Naru found the fridge stocked with everything she could need to cook for the next few weeks. Finding some teriyaki sauce and some thawed chicken, Naru scrounged up a cutting board and a sharp knife. Twirling the knife around in her hand, she chopped up the chicken expertly and threw it in a pan she had found.

She turned on the fire and placed the pan on top of the stove. Naru poured the sauce on the chicken and swirled it around. Soon, an amazing smell rose from the kitchen, and the guys of the team naturally gravitated towards the kitchen.

Naru was in her own world while she cooked. She discovered some vegetables like broccoli and carrots and began chopping them up, not knowing she had an audience. Her hands and fingers flew as she chopped up the food, threw it into a steamer, and replaced the chopped up stuff with more.

Soon her task was done and there were three bowls of teriyaki chicken with steamed vegetables. Smiling in satisfaction, Naru wiped her hands and put away the things she had used to make the dish.

When she turned around, Kakashi and Sasuke were sitting at the countertop, stunned by how good she was in the kitchen. Particularly with the knife. Filing away that information for later, Kakashi broke the silence first.

"So…" he said. "Food?"

Naru laughed. "Yep, here you go. Teriyaki chicken and steamed vegetables. Enjoy." She placed the bowls in front of them, a heavenly smell rising from the dish.

Hesitantly, they dug in. And once they did, they couldn't stop. It was amazing, heavenly, and fantastic all rolled up into one.

Naru watched, amused, as her teammates inhaled her cooking. She knew she was okay, but not that good. Once they were finished, she asked, "Like it?"

The response was instantaneous.

Both yelled, at the same time, "YESSSSSSSS!" Kakashi pleaded, "Please, cook for us from now on! We love your food and can't live without it!" Sasuke vigorously nodded to back up his statement.

Naru coughed a giggle back. "Sure. I'm glad you guys liked it so much. I didn't know it was so good!"

* * *

Okay, not my longest or best chapter ever…I was kinda having trouble figuring out how to end this without it being like really short or cutting off at a random time or something. Sorry. But I'm kinda tired since it's two in the morning. And so yeah. I promise the next chapter will be better 'cause I already have a beginning planned for it and I can finally get started on the four week extreme training thing. I hope it'll be better than this chapter. I'm sorry again. You guys've been waiting awhile and I give you this…I'll try to do better, I promise. Night! Or morning…


	15. Chapter 14: Week One and Wonderfood

Hey peeps. I dunno if I'll be able to update for a little while because I'm going to a place in the country there's no wifi. Sigh. So, I thought that if at least I updated once I'd be done with next Sunday's update. And…yeah. Here ya go!

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you're in the world.~

Your Song

Elton John

* * *

The next day, Naru and Sasuke's other teachers arrived. Bright and early. Naru made a quick breakfast of ham and egg sandwiches for her team, as the others had already ate, and soon after everyone went outside.

"Alright, kids. This is Week One. Your teacher is Gai. The rest of us will be taking a well-deserved break from teaching and working. Any questions before I hand you off to Gai?" Kakashi asked them.

"Yeah, I have one," Naru said. "This is just taijutsu and like conditioning, right? You're gonna do the ninjutsu and elemental stuff?"

"Yes, that's correct," Kakashi answered. "Anything else?"

Everything was silent.

"Very well. Good luck on surviving the sunset." The Hatake muttered the last sentence, but everyone except Gai heard him.

Naru groaned in despair. "Sunset?" Sasuke whispered to Naru. The older ninjas were snickering in the background at his ignorance.

"You don't want to know," she replied. "Although by the end of the week you'll probably know very well what they're talking about." Naru fired them a glare.

That just made the trio laugh even harder. Kakashi, Anko, and Ibiki all went back into the house, still chuckling.

Naru and Sasuke turned with dread to their new 'youthful' teacher. He was smiling blindingly right at them, teeth pinging and thumbs up.

"My students!" he cried. "You will learn much now that you are with me! Did you know that Kakashi and I are eternal rivals?"

"You and Kakashi?" Naru asked warily. They were in uncharted waters here.

"Yes, and I'm beating him! I bet you two will learn twice as much from me than you will from Kakashi this month. I will beat him!" Gai said with fire in his eyes, and pumping his fist into the air.

Naru and Sasuke laughed nervously. "Well, sensei, let's get started then," Naru quickly answered, mostly to avoid the weirdness of the green-clothed man than actual enthusiasm. "You can't beat Kakashi if you don't teach us anything."

"Naru, my student, you are growing more and more youthful every second! You are like a flower, just beginning to blossom!" Gai cried. Then he started running towards her, arms open for a hug, tears streaming down his face.

"Noooooooooooooo!" Naru screamed in pure terror. She began running as fast as she could to get away from Gai. Sasuke watched the whole thing in wonder. It was just a hug.

That was before Gai looked at him and exclaimed, "You are also beginning to blossom, my youthful other student!" And began sprinting towards him. Naru kept running, unaware that Gai had stopped pursuing her for the moment. She was blind in terror.

Sasuke had a feeling that 'the sunset' had something to do with Gai. And that he did not want to experience it, like apparently Naru had. So he ran, too.

Thus Week One began.

* * *

At the end of the day, the two kids returned to the house exhausted and barely alive. Their legs almost couldn't support them because they had been running all day.

Naru was in slightly better shape than Sasuke. Because of her 'tenant', her chakra supply was replenished much faster than the average ninja, and the demon inadvertently helped heal her body as well.

Ninja's bodies always broke down the muscle and built it back stronger faster than civilians because of their increased chakra levels. A civilian usually had chakra levels of about an academy student, and a few had genin levels.

But Naru's chakra was already at the height of probably a low jounin, and adding that with her demon, her body was already beginning to show signs of muscle.

Naru dragged herself into the kitchen to nab something from the mega-fridge (her new nickname for the refrigerator) for her and Sasuke to eat. They had only gotten a small break to eat a protein bar and a drink of water for lunch, and no dinner.

She got out some cheese, meat, and lettuce. Naru wrapped up the cheese and meat in the lettuce and handed it to Sasuke. She also made one for herself and one for Gai, since he hadn't really had a break either.

Putting those ingredients away, Naru gathered some fruit to make a protein smoothie to have before bed. It should increase the amount of protein that stayed with the body to help build the muscles back.

She chopped up some bananas and strawberries before dumping them in the blender. Adding some milk as well, Naru turned the device on high. A few minutes later, the mixture was done.

Naru found some cups by luck in a cupboard and poured the protein shake into the cups. Not wanting to bother with washing out the blender, she just placed it in the sink.

Naru set a glass of the shake in front of Sasuke and took one for herself, leaving one for Gai. "Bottoms up," she proclaimed to Sasuke.

They touched their glasses before proceeding to inhale the shake and wrap. Sasuke grinned at her once he was finished. "Thanks, 'ru," he said. "Your cooking is SO good."

Naru tiredly smiled back at him. "Thanks 'suke. I'm happy to make food for you anytime. Let's go and get some rest. Night guys," she added, nodding her head towards the other ninjas who were pretending not to listen and watch everything.

"Night," the three chorused. At that moment, Gai came inside, looking a bit more subdued than normal.

"Oh yeah, sensei, the wrap and protein shake on the counter is for you," Naru called to him from down the hall.

Gai picked up the wrap and shake before looking at his colleagues in surprise. "Did you ask her to make this for me?" he asked.

"No," Kakashi answered. "She did it on her own. Just wait until you taste her food. It's like everything she touches turns into like wonderfood. It's amazing." He was a little sad that Naru's cooking couldn't just be kept for him and Sasuke, but of course her secret talent was going to come out at some point.

Gai took a bite of Naru's wrap and gaped at it. He then proceeded to inhale the wrap and down the shake faster than Kakashi normally ate.

"Kakashi, does anyone else know about this 'wonderfood'?" he asked frantically. "She could be a world-famous cook if she wanted to!"

"I know, it's astonishing, isn't it? Let's just call her food wonderfood, since that's what it is. But as far as I know, nobody but me, Sasuke, you, and Naru herself has ever eaten her food." The Hatake replied.

"Wow," Gai said. "My student is more youthful than I thought. Well, I'm off to bed! Got to get ready for a busy day ahead of me! Goodnight, my fellow youthful colleagues!" And with that, Gai made his exit.

Anko and Ibiki turned to Kakashi for an explanation of what had just occurred.

"I've got nothing for you," Kakashi shrugged. "You have to have tasted Naru's cooking to understand what we're talking about. Trust me, you won't regret it."

Anko said, "Her cooking can't be that good, can it? I mean, be realistic, Kakashi. Nothing is better than dango, and I doubt she can make something that will rival that."

Kakashi replied, "If you want to taste true dango, go to Naru and ask her to make it. Her wonderfood is the only food I want to eat ever again. I know for a fact that Sasuke feels the same way, and Gai probably does too. Well, I'm kind of tired as well. I'm going to go hit the sack. I'll see you two tomorrow. Night."

Ibiki thoughtfully stated, "I wonder if Naru's 'wonderfood' is really so amazing as he says."

Anko frowned. "I seriously doubt it." She answered.

* * *

The next day, Gai had them work on their arms.

"You must picture something you hate, or someone you hate, on your log. Then punch your log as fast and as hard as you can. This will allow you to amp up your speed, and your punches will match. Your legs aren't the only thing that needs to be trained."

Naru pictured fire. She had always hated fire, for some reason. She figured it was because of her ability with water. After all, fire was the opposite of water.

She imagined her fists covered in water, pushing the flames back, destroying them until there was nothing left.

Sasuke was picturing Itachi, the brother who had betrayed him horribly. Because of Naru, he was no longer planning to avenge his clan, but that didn't mean he didn't hate his brother anymore. His feelings weren't any different. Just his plans had changed.

After about three hours of continually punching the logs as fast and as hard as they could, Naru made a breakthrough.

She had been so engrossed in her vision she hadn't noticed anything around her. Naru's chakra had instinctively taken water from the air and compressed it around her fists. It was unnoticeable to anyone else, but it was definitely there. And it made her punches significantly stronger.

Of course, Naru hadn't noticed it until she had woken out of her trance. But the cause of her becoming aware again was that her hands weren't hitting anything solid anymore.

Naru looked down slightly and gasped. Her hands had made a hole right through the log. Quickly dropping the water cover just in case, she called to her sensei.

"Gai?" she questioned, a little unsure.

"Yes, my youthful student?" he replied, not looking at her. He was too focused on giving Sasuke tips and instructions.

"I kinda need you to see this," Naru said.

Gai looked over at her and her log, not seeing the problem because he was looking at her from the side. "What is it?" he asked.

Naru sighed and stuck her fists through the log. Gai's mouth dropped open in shock.

"What? How did you do this? It should have taken much longer for you to get all the way through the log. My taijutsu student Lee's record was three and a half hours, and he can only do taijutsu." Gai said, still stunned. "Well, let's get you another log. Do the same thing."

Naru nodded before grabbing another log from the edge of the clearing. She picked up her old log and disposed of it in the woods.

The rest of the day continued in that fashion, Naru finishing off four logs, Sasuke doing three.

"My students, you are doing very well. Now, let's get back to the house. Naru, can you make some more of your wonderfood?" Gai pleaded.

"My wonderfood?" Naru asked, confused.

"Yes. We, as in me and Kakashi, have made that name for whatever food you make. You are an amazing cook!" Gai said. He lunged forward to give her a sunset hug.

Naru saw the incoming attack just in time, and was able to dive out of the way. Sasuke, unfortunately for him, was standing behind Naru while Gai was talking to them, and Gai caught him instead.

"Sasuke, noooooooooo!" Naru cried. Her best friend had just been lost to the **sunset**.

Sasuke struggled in frustration. Why couldn't he move? He looked up only to be crushed as Gai gave him the sunset hug.

Somehow Sasuke found himself unable to move, and he could only watch while Gai carried out his ritual.

Crocodile tears streaming down his face, Gai cried out, "My student is so youthful! She is a flower that will soon blossom into one of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen!"

The two were standing on a cliff, with ocean waves crashing down below them, and an orange sunset on the horizon. A seagull sounded, and the sand and shells felt real under his feet.

"What the heck is this?!" Sasuke cried in horror. He struggled in vain.

After a short while, Gai let him go, and Sasuke was off like a shot. He sprinted away from Gai until he rammed into his best friend. She was shielding her eyes from him. "Is it over?" she asked.

Sasuke whimpered in response. His adrenaline was worn out, and he couldn't even form a proper sentence. Naru took that as a yes.

"Good," she sighed in relief. "Can you walk?" Naru inquired, casting her eyes over his tired body. The mental stress was just too great, so Sasuke didn't give any answer to her.

"And I'm going to take that as a no. Let's go, 'suke. You need some well-deserved rest." Naru swept an arm under his legs and one under his back. Sasuke was just too shocked to even complain or be embarrassed at the fact that she was carrying him bridal style.

Naru kicked open the door with grace that somehow only she possessed, and strode across the floor to the direction of Sasuke's bedroom.

Kakashi, Anko, and Ibiki were sitting in the living room again. All of them burst out into laughter at seeing Sasuke in Naru's arms instead of the other way around.

"Sunset?" Kakashi managed to choke out. Naru nodded in response, slightly smiling at Sasuke's reaction to it. Of course, she had had the same reaction, and she was concerned about her friend's wellbeing, but still, it was pretty funny.

Her positive answer to his question only set the three off even more. Anko actually fell off the couch, and Kakashi was clutching his sides. Even Ibiki, who was normally more reserved, had his head tilted back with tears streaming down his face.

Naru rolled her eyes at the immature ninjas and continued on her mission. She set Sasuke down on his bed and took off his shoes. She pulled his blinds shut before leaving his room. Closing the door firmly behind her, Naru ventured into her own room.

She unwrapped the dirty tape surrounding her hands and threw it away. Then she took off her shoes and washed her arms and face. Sighing in slight tiredness, Naru padded out of her room and into the kitchen, making no noise.

Anko and Kakashi were still laughing, but winding down, and Ibiki had stopped. Only Ibiki noticed her, and he took note of the way she moved. She moved almost like a dancer, gracefully and smoothly.

Naru peered into the mega-fridge and tried to decide what to make for dinner. Gai had let them off a little early today, so she'd be cooking for everyone. Including herself, that made six people.

She eventually decided to make lime steak. Naru got out everything she would need: steak, limes, knives, and a cuttingboard. There was a grill outside. She also decided to make dango as a special treat.

Naru took the steak from the fridge and rinsed it with water before placing it all on a plate. Finding a brush and tongs, she went outside using a back door that led out to the grill from the kitchen.

She turned on the grill and put the steak on. Then she closed the lid and walked back inside.

Naru took one of the limes and knives, and just like before chopped it up expertly. Then she squeezed the lime slices into a bowl she had found. Deciding it wasn't enough, Naru cut up and squeezed three more to ensure that each steak had good flavor.

Naru walked back outside with the bowl. Taking the brush, she dipped it in the lime juice, opened the lid of the grill, and brushed all the steaks with it. Naru then used the tongs to turn the steaks over and repeated the process on the other side, but made sure to leave a little extra left over.

After a while, the steaks were done and Naru took them inside. Kakashi, Anko, Ibiki, and Gai were all sitting in the living room, not paying any attention to her. Sasuke was still in his bedroom.

Naru placed the plate on the counter in front of her, having cleaned up the knives and cuttingboard earlier while waiting for the steak to cook. She took the last of the lime juice and spread it over the steaks once more.

After she had done that, Naru covered the meat with paper towels to keep as much heat as possible in. Then she gathered the ingredients to make dango.

Finding some dango sticks in a drawer by chance, she stuck the dango balls onto the sticks and set them on a plate as well.

Sasuke wandered out of his bedroom at the same time, looking sleepy but less traumatized. "What happened?" he asked.

Naru laughed. "You experienced the **sunset**. That's what Gai does when he's super happy or thinks someone is really youthful and stuff. It's something you want to avoid at all costs."

Sasuke gave her a sarcastic look, and she grinned at him brightly. "Anyway," she continued, "You're just in time for dinner. I made lime steak and dango."

Placing his plate in front of him, she also began to eat her own steak and dango. Sasuke bit into the steak first, then the dango. "Naru, this is amazing. I don't know how you do it." He said, with complete conviction.

"Thanks, Sasuke. I'm glad you like it. Dinner!" Naru yelled the last part toward the grownups.

Kakashi and Gai were in front of her before she could blink. She grinned at them. "Hungry much?" she teased.

"YESSSSSS!" They both yelled.

Naru laughed again. "Here you go," she said, handing each a plate. "Lime steak and dango."

Kakashi looked at Anko with a smirk on his face. Tonight would be the night Anko would admit that Naru's food was legit wonderfood.

He and Gai stepped aside so Anko and Ibiki could get their share of wonderfood.

Anko stepped forward, a challenge in her eyes as she looked at Naru. Naru didn't see it, and simply gave Anko her plate with a smile. Then Naru turned to Ibiki and gave him his share. "Enjoy," she said.

Ibiki was the first of the two to take a bite. He took a small piece of the steak to start. His eyes widened. "Anko, you have got to try this. Naru's cooking is truly wonderfood!" Then he proceeded to scarf down the rest of his steak and dango, loving every bite.

Anko stared suspiciously at Naru, then at her plate. Deciding to skip the steak for the moment, she ate one of the dango balls on her stick. She showed no emotion. The room was tense.

Then Anko surprised everyone by gulping down her dango as fast as she could. The steak soon followed. "Naru, I am so sorry for ever doubting your cooking skills! Can you ever forgive me and make me more wonderfood?" she cried.

"Anko, of course I'll make you more. I was planning on cooking for everyone anyways. It's just lunch that you're on your own, because Sasuke and I will be training then. But breakfast and dinner I can make for you guys."

Everybody there immediately brightened. Wonderfood for the next four weeks?

Things were about to get tasty.

* * *

The rest of the week continued like that. As Kakashi said, Sasuke and Naru were sore in places they didn't even know could get sore, or that existed. But in exchange for their hard work, both were much stronger, especially Naru with her unwanted advantage.

Gai had made sure to work as much of their body as he could. Legs, arms, back, shoulders, stomach, you name it, he covered it.

Naru cooked breakfast and dinner every day just like she said, and everyone always loved it. But if someone tried to have lunch or eat a snack that wasn't made by Naru, it just wasn't the same. It was though the food had to have Naru's magic touch to reach its full tastiness or something.

Soon Sunday rolled around, the first real break Naru and Sasuke had gotten since they arrived at the house. They spent the whole day resting and catching up on lost sleep, just letting their bodies recover from the harsh training.

It was a day they both enjoyed. Next up was weapons week, and both were going to need all the rest they could get.

* * *

Yay! Done with this chapter! And now I don't have to feel guilty in case I don't update Sunday, which I probably won't. Looking at my calendar, I'm gonna be gone three weeks. I hope I can get you three more chapters before I leave next Monday, but I'm not sure. Fingers crossed. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review! P.S., this is my longest chapter yet! 3,639 words! Hope that makes up for the last chapter I posted.


	16. Chapter 15: Week Two and Bonding

Sup peeps! I stayed up really late last night to finish that last chapter, and it looks like I'm gonna do it again tonight. It's worth it, though. Right now, I'm listening to Pandora Radio and I'm just gonna pick some lyrics from the song that's playing right now. Enjoy this, and don't forget to review! And SupaCrazee, I think I'll take your advice.

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~We may only have tonight, but till the morning sun you're mine, all mine. Play the music low and sway to the rhythm of love…When the moon is low, we can dance in slow motion.~

Rhythm of Love

Plain White T's

* * *

The sound of maniacal laughter woke Naru from her deep sleep. She shuddered. Whoever was making that noise sounded positively evil. And that was probably the point.

"Rise and shine, maggots!" Anko yelled, busting her door open. "It's weapons week! And you're stuck with me! Get dressed and be ready in five minutes or else!" She then proceeded to break down Sasuke's door as well.

"Naru, once you get dressed, please make breakfast while I make Sasuke run. We can't have you tired and not make your wonderfood! I need my wonderfood!" she said, sounding slightly obsessed.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" Naru screamed back. "I don't want to know what the 'or else' part is. Breakfast'll be ready in ten!"

Naru quickly dressed in her ninja clothes, hopping to the kitchen as she struggled to get her foot through the pants leg. She whipped up a quick and light breakfast, just some fruit and cereal.

Somehow Kakashi and Gai were still sleeping through all the racket Anko was making, so she just left two bowls of cereal on the counter and a plate of chopped up fruit for whenever they woke up.

"Morning, Ibiki!" she called while she chopped up oranges and other various fruit. The man sitting in the living room nodded to her, too engrossed in the newspaper to give a verbal response. And too sleepy.

He only looked up when a cup of steaming hot black coffee was set in front of him. "This'll wake you right up," Naru said, smiling at Ibiki. She also set down a bowl of cereal with fruit on top. "Here's breakfast. Enjoy."

"Sasuke, Anko! Breakfast!" she yelled out the back door, where Sasuke was 'warming up' with Anko. He came racing to her, but Anko got there first. All three scarfed down their morning meal, and with Ibiki joining them, went outside.

"Okay, maggots! Today is day one of Week Two. You lucky ninjas get to have me and Ibiki as teachers." She said, pointing to herself. "We're gonna find the weapon that fits you. Then I'm gonna run you into the ground with it."

"Ibiki and I got a huge range of sharp pointy objects from the weapons room inside, so take a look at the pile and pick up whatever calls to you. It may be more than one thing. That's okay. Just take it all, and we'll figure out what suits you best and you know the rest. GO!" Anko finished up, gesturing to the huge mound of metal things.

Naru smiled nervously at Sasuke before approaching the pile. Nothing called out to her. Looking over at Sasuke, she saw he had already found a sword.

Not to be outdone, Naru began digging through the dense hill. A little while later, she still hadn't found anything. Sasuke had found a fan and a short knife.

Frowning in frustration, Naru plunged her hand into the mound, and when her arm would go no further, she grabbed a random weapon. Pulling it out, she knew immediately this was her tool.

Unearthing her mystery metal, Naru realized it was more than just one weapon. It was a pair of daggers. The medium-length blade seemed to have a silvery glow to it, and the handles were intricately carved with strange circles and lines. They looked almost like a clan sign, like the Uchiha fan.

Ibiki clapped a hand down on her shoulder, and she cringed. She looked up at him in question. "Are these your chosen weapons?" he asked.

Naru looked back down at the daggers and nodded with conviction. "Huh. Nobody knows where those blades have come from, who they were made by, or if anyone has previously used them. All that's known about them is that they're ancient." He replied.

Anko and Sasuke walked over to the duo. "Right, Sasuke has a bunch of weapons. Naru, I have a feeling you're going to be a natural with those blades. Wanna test him?" Anko asked Naru.

"Sure," Naru answered. "I'd like to give 'em a try. And I haven't fought Sasuke in awhile." She gave Sasuke a predatory grin, which he only smirked to.

Anko and Ibiki backed away a little distance. "Try the fan first, Sasuke." Anko called to him.

Sasuke nodded and picked up the fan. Facing Naru, he drawled, "You can charge me. I don't bite. Mostly."

Naru laughed before disappearing in her speed. Ibiki and Anko whistled, impressed. Naru suddenly appeared behind Sasuke and slashed at his back.

Sasuke had caught a flash of blue fabric, and at the last minute turned and blocked her dagger with the fan. Something felt off about the fan, though. Shrugging it off, Sasuke continued to block her lightening-fast attacks, but just barely.

Before he knew it, Naru had a blade around the front of his neck and one brushing his spinal cord. "Give up," she whispered in his ear. Sasuke dropped the fan.

Naru moved away and stated, "I don't think the fan is for you, Sasuke. Pick a different one."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but picked up the knife. "Don't think just because you won this time, that you will again."

Naru only smirked and gave a beckoning sign with her fingers. Sasuke stood still for a moment before running at top speed towards Naru. He almost got her with the knife, but at the last second she vanished and reappeared behind him.

Her speed before she became part of Team 7 was pretty good. Training with Gai had done wonders for her.

Naru swiped at him with both of her daggers, making an x motion. Sasuke whirled around and caught her blades just in time. Pushing against her, he eventually won and shoved her weapons away.

Naru recovered in record time and ran behind the weapon hill. She ran up the pile as fast as she could and jumped on Sasuke, whose back was to her. Landing on his back, she knocked him down to the ground.

Sasuke grunted as all the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs. Naru grinned and grabbed his knife from his relaxed hand. "Gotcha," she said. Sitting on his back in obvious triumph, the duo made quite the picture.

Anko and Ibiki grinned. Both were trying to control their mirth for the sake of Sasuke's ego and dignity. It would take a huge hit. If it already hadn't. After all, a girl who was shorter than he was was sitting on him.

"Sasuke, I think your weapon is the sword. It looks cool. Wanna try it out before deciding?" Naru asked, pretending the situation they were in wasn't weird at all.

"Sure," Sasuke replied. After a moment of silence, he continued, "Hey 'ru, can you get off me?"

Naru blushed. "Of course. Sorry about that." She clambered off his back, and stood awkwardly to the side while he went to retrieve the sword.

Adjusting his grip on the sword, Sasuke initiated the spar. He began running at moderate speed, and he became a blur. Naru did the same, and the two clashed with a big clang.

Spinning away from Sasuke, Naru tried to think of tactics to use. Deciding to try to distract him with a blow to the head while her other knife aimed at his stomach, Naru put her plan into action.

She increased her speed slightly and drove a blade towards the back of his head. Sasuke brought the sword up to block, as she expected, and she tried to go for his stomach with her other dagger.

Sasuke swept his blade down to protect himself and spun around, weapon at the ready. Thus they fought a high-speed battle, sometimes blurs, sometimes invisible.

The only sounds were footsteps and the clash of metal. But they were tiring quickly. Even Naru, who had what seemed like unlimited stamina because of the Kyuubi, was getting slower and slower.

After a while, the two finally got in a position where Sasuke had his sword at the back of Naru's neck and she had a blade resting on the back of his neck as well. Her other blade was close to his heart. He couldn't back away, but neither could she.

The battle had come to an end. They were too evenly matched.

Naru dropped her weapons first. "Good fight," she said, holding her hand out for Sasuke to shake. Sasuke lowered his weapon as well, and grasped her hand.

"I think this is my weapon," he proclaimed. "It feels right."

Naru snorted. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Captain. I'm happy for you, though. Now we have another area of attack that we can expand and improve on." She let go of his hand and turned to their teachers of the week.

"Okay, we're done. Is there anything else we need to do or are we off for the day?" Naru asked.

Ibiki replied to her query. "You're done. That was the only plan for today. Just help us clean up the rest of these unused weapons. I told you we should've just taken them to the room inside, instead of dragging all the weapons out here." He directed the last part of his statement to Anko.

Anko turned away from her companion and sniffed. "I refuse to acknowledge the fact that you're right. Let's go, maggots! I want this place cleared in twenty minutes or there's gonna be more running for you!" she yelled the last part at the members of Team 7.

Between the four of them, the pile was gone within fifteen minutes. Naru grinned. "Finally, we get a day off earlier than usual!"

* * *

The rest of the week consisted of various weapon stances and combinations. Naru and Sasuke worked on their footwork as well as handling their weapons. They also learned to use their knives to the fullest degree.

Anko, as she said, worked them into the ground, and many times Naru couldn't make dinner because she was so tired. Everyone in the house shunned Anko for that. Ibiki was a little better than Anko at not wearing her out, but not much.

Naru liked Ibiki. In an older brother kind of way. He was like the voice of reason in every situation. Gai was too weird, Anko was too crazy, Kakashi was too childish, and Sasuke was too quiet and reserved to say anything if a situation was about to blow up. Naru herself wasn't too great at being a peace maker. Ibiki was able to diffuse the problem in an instant.

She often asked to work with Ibiki instead of Anko. Ibiki was pleased with that, too. Not many people wanted to voluntarily work with him. Mostly because he looked pretty scary. But for some reason Naru didn't seem afraid of him.

He was starting to look down on her in a little sister kind of way. Ibiki didn't like having to take care of others most of the time, but for some reason he didn't mind Naru. Especially in their early mornings together.

Naru had gotten into the habit of waking up early so she wouldn't have to hear Anko's yelling too much. Ibiki was an early riser in the first place, so they had gotten into the habit of sitting in the living room every morning, reading the newspaper while Ibiki drank the coffee Naru made for him.

And both Sasuke and Naru made great progress in their weapons training. It was like they were sponges that soaked up all the water they could get their hands on. None of the four grownups had ever seen such potential and raw talent in anyone else.

Soon enough, Sunday arrived, and it was their second full-day break out of four. Naru still woke up early to sit with Ibiki, though, and the two continued to silently bond over coffee and the newspaper.

* * *

Hey peeps. Hope you enjoyed, but I'm really tired now. It's like 11:30 p.m. here and I've been working on this since 9:30 p.m. But it isn't as bad as last night, where I stayed up until 1 in the morning. You can tell I'm a night owl. Anyways, hope you enjoy and don't forget to review please! Cross your fingers for me that I can get two more chapters out to you before Monday! Bye!


	17. Chapter 16: Week Three and a Ring

Hey peeps! Yay! Third chapter in three days! I'm on a roll! I guess there's gonna be one tonight and hopefully one tomorrow night, then you won't hear from me again until like the last Sunday in July. I'm gonna miss you all, but it'll be good to have a break, I think.

Ariel Night: Thank you SO MUCH for catching me. I completely forgot I had her order weapons and it probably never would have crossed my mind unless you mentioned it. I'll fix it in this chapter. And thank you for your sweet review. It made my day. I'll do my very best to keep up whatever I seem to be doing right. 3 :)

SupaCrazee: I know! Night owls unite! (Hey that kinda rhymed!)

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~I'm telling the world that I found a girl…the one I can live for, a reason for life.~

Telling the World

Taio Cruz

* * *

Neji was missing Naru terribly. Like, it was affecting his training bad. And people were getting suspicious bad.

But he couldn't help it. She was pretty much the love of his life.

He wanted to tell everyone that he had found her. That she was the one he lived for. And she was his reason for life.

Yet he couldn't. Otherwise people would start asking questions like, how on earth did you meet? The pariah of the village and the Hyuuga prodigy?

And that could lead to a whole mess of things, like the village finding out that they were the legendary Moon Dancers. He would have to explain how he snuck out every night and avoided the Hyuuga guards. People would find out where their special secret place was, and it wouldn't be so secret anymore.

So he couldn't tell anyone. But it was hard. His cousin, Hinata, was giving him strange looks when she thought he wasn't looking. Neji was pretty sure she suspected something, but what she was thinking he couldn't fathom.

He sighed and rolled over. It was a Sunday night, and only the beginning of the third week Naru was going to be gone. Eventually he fell asleep, but it was the kind of sleep one could be easily roused from.

Waking up the next morning like clockwork, Neji shuffled sleepily into the kitchen to make his morning tea. Usually he tried to use up his daily capacity of thinking of Naru here, but it didn't always work.

When his tea was ready, he sat down to think. Mostly of stuff he had already covered in his mind. But it helped to go over it again so he could remind himself of why exactly he couldn't tell anyone.

Neji was so deep in thought that he didn't notice his cousin walk in the door. He didn't notice until she laid a hand on his forearm from across the table. Neji startled and knocked over his cup, but before too much could spill, he caught it.

Trying to calm his heart and control his breathing, Neji addressed her first. "Hinata, I didn't see you. I apologize," he calmly said, automatically reverting to his stoic uncaring voice he used with anyone besides Naru.

"Neji, what's wrong? You seem to be...a little bit off lately." She ignored his apology. "You can tell me anything," she continued earnestly.

Neji inwardly snorted. Right. He could tell her that he had a secret girlfriend and that they were both amazing dancers. He could tell her they could walk on water with no chakra. He could tell her they were the legendary mysterious Moon Dancers who no one knew much about. He could tell her they met up every night at midnight, at least before she left.

That would go well. She would totally freak out and tell Hiashi. And Hiashi would tell the Hokage, and everything would go spiraling downhill from there.

So he remained silent.

Hinata frowned. "I've been watching you a bit, and sometimes you just stare off into space with a weird expression. It's like you're deliriously happy yet sad at the same time."

Neji looked at her with a blank face, but inwardly panicked. She had been watching him when he pondered about Naru! Of all the possible times…

Taking note of his continuous silence, unaware of the complex thoughts and emotions her cousin held, Hinata tried a different strategy. "Is this about a girl?" she asked bluntly.

Neji almost fell off his chair in surprise. How on earth did she guess? Was this the creepy woman's intuition he had heard about? He stared at her with a look of complete and utter shock before he schooled his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Hinata. There is no girl. I don't have time for that." He said, crossing his arms.

"I knew it!" Hinata exclaimed triumphantly. "It _is _about a girl! I can't believe it. You actually found someone!" she grinned at him in euphoria.

"I bet we'll become best friends when you introduce us. And once you marry her, we'll technically be family! I can't wait to meet her! When are you going to tell Father?" she continued, totally ignoring Neji's look of incredulity.

He sighed, seeing there was no way out of this conversation. "Fine, there is a girl. First of all, she's just my girlfriend. And although I will marry her," he said the last part in a mutter, "I don't know when it will be safe to introduce her. I have no doubt, however, that you two will be the best of friends. She's a bit like you, actually. Very graceful and beautiful. But you can't tell Uncle. Otherwise I'll be dead. She'd probably end up dead too."

Hinata squealed. "You're going to marry her? Did you get her a promise ring? Oh my gosh, that would be so romantic! Sorry, I'm getting a little crazy here. I'll calm down." She took a few calming breaths and continued at a normal pitch.

"But how come I can't tell Father? Why do you want to keep her secret? Are you courting her but no one knows? Except me, now?" Hinata said, all in one breath.

"That's exactly why I don't want to tell him. I've known her for years now, and we were the only ones who knew. Until I told you. But please, just keep it a secret. And actually, a promise ring sounds good. Do you think you could help me pick it out? She's been away for a few weeks, and she's not going to return for two more yet." Neji answered.

"Alright. I'll keep your secret. Of course I'll help you pick it out! Let's go this Wednesday…" The two made plans to get Naru a ring.

Neji left the kitchen with the feeling of a weight lifted off his shoulders. Naru would love the ring.

Hinata left the kitchen with a warm feeling in her stomach. Who knew her cousin was such a romantic guy? And someday she'd have a cousin-in-law and new best friend.

* * *

It was Monday. The start of the third week. Naru was up with Ibiki again. Setting down his usual cup of coffee, she sat down next to him on the couch.

Leaning her head back, Naru closed her eyes and let her mind drift. Suddenly a thought came to the front of her mind. The shopping trip!

Her eyes snapped open, and the wheels in her brain began working for the first time since she woke up. She had ordered two swords from a shop when she was on her shopping spree with Neji.

But that was before she had found the daggers in Anko and Ibiki's Pile o' Sharp and Pointy Objects. She could still use the swords she had ordered, but it just wasn't going to feel the same.

Naru kept trying to think of a solution to her dilemma. How was she going to fix this? It was three weeks since the Genin Exams had passed, and the swords must be in the shop by now. It was too late to cancel the order.

Suddenly a great idea came to her. "Hey Ibiki, could you use two new weapons for interrogating?" she asked her silent companion.

Ibiki looked over at her with raised eyebrows. They rarely talked to each other in the mornings. "Well, we always accept donations from ninjas if they have old weapons or things they don't need or want anymore."

"Great. I want to make a donation. You see, I ordered swords at a shop in Konoha, but I forgot about them in this whole super mega training business. And then I found the daggers in your pile and I know I just couldn't use the swords to their full potential. Will you take them?" Naru pleaded.

"Sure," the gruff ninja responded. "Thank you thank you thank you!" Naru almost yelled, but caught herself. She gave him a huge hug.

"Anytime, Naru. Anytime," Ibiki looked down at the little yet powerful girl that had somehow wiggled her way into his heart.

Just seconds after the two had parted from their embrace, Kakashi sleepily slogged his way into the living room. He spotted them and glared in disbelief.

"How can you two be early risers like this? It took me forever to get out of bed." He asked them, still glaring.

Naru had to stifle a laugh at the sight of Kakashi. He had dried saliva around his mouth from drooling, his headband was nowhere in sight, and his face was uncovered.

Naru really didn't see the fuss he made over people seeing his face. He was actually a pretty handsome man. She suspected that he didn't know his mask was off and decided to keep him unaware for a little while longer.

After all, she still had to enjoy his hair. Instead of its usual silvery tower, it was totally messed up. It still had the general shape of his normal hairstyle, but there were sections of his hair that were sticking out in all directions.

Naru quietly snapped a quick picture of him. Neither of the ninjas noticed. So much for 'elite and experienced'.

She wanted to remember this four week trip with her team plus three, so she had been taking pictures. Then she was going to develop the best and make a scrapbook.

Naru was close to bursting with laughter, and she saw Ibiki was too, so she tried to rescue them both.

"I don't know, Kakashi. Why are you such a late sleeper?" Naru commented. "Hey Ibiki, I need some help in the kitchen. Can you come with me?" she directed her question to the man next to her.

Seeing what she was doing, Ibiki consented. "Sure. Hey Kakashi, take a look in the mirror. Your hair is fantastic. And you look fine without your mask."

They exited the living room, but looked back before entering the kitchen. They were just in time to see Kakashi rush to one of the bathrooms in mortification at his appearance.

Then Ibiki and Naru couldn't hold it in any longer, and let out their laughter. It woke up everyone else in the household. Gai pointed at them and yelled about their extreme youth, Anko threatened Gai that she would hurt him if he kept spouting about youth, and Sasuke watched indifferently.

Meanwhile, Ibiki was having to support himself on the counter because he was laughing so hard. Naru was on the floor. Both had tears streaming down their face.

And that was the morning of Week Three, Day One.

* * *

Around five, Sasuke and Naru finally started their elemental training. With a slightly embarrassed Kakashi. It had taken him most of the day to recover from his morning embarrassment, and to make sure his appearance was impeccable. Who knew he was so self-conscious?

"Okay, my cute students, it's elemental time!" he began. He passed out perfect squares of white paper to Naru and Sasuke.

"These paper squares are made special chakra sensing paper. They will determine your elemental type. All you have to do is channel some chakra into it, and BAM!, instant element." The Hatake continued.

"So, if you have fire, it'll burn up, water, it'll get soggy, wind, it'll get cut up, lightning, it'll crumple up, and earth, it'll crumble up. Any questions? No? Good." Kakashi moved quickly.

"I'm a lightning-type. So when I put my chakra into this piece of paper, it'll crumple up. Watch." He channeled a small amount of chakra in the paper, and as he said, it compressed into a crinkled ball.

"Okay, Sasuke. You go first. Don't put too much chakra in, though, or it won't work." Kakashi gave Sasuke his cue.

Sasuke channeled a small amount of chakra, and the paper immediately crumpled up and caught on fire. He quickly dropped it in fear of being burned.

"Hey, you have two elements. Impressive. Actually, that's rarely heard of. Most only have one type of element. Some jounin and all Hokages can gain another element through hard training, but few are born with two. Congratulations." Kakashi grinned. "We're lightning-buddies. Okay, Naru, you can go now."

Naru nodded before focusing on the paper. Almost as soon as she set eyes on it, the paper turned into a soggy glop of white in her fingers. She was disappointed. Water had always been her thing, but she had wanted to have a new change.

Sighing, Naru spread out her fingers to drop it, but then the soggy glop separated into smaller globs of paper. It slipped between her fingers.

She smiled slightly. So she could have a change.

Kakashi had been watching her face for emotions the whole time. He wasn't sure why she had looked so disappointed and sad when she had gotten water. It was evident Naru had a _very _strong water ability. But when she had been about to drop it, and it cut up instead, her face was relief.

Kakashi filed that away for later. Something about Naru Uzumaki just wasn't adding up, and he would figure her out if it was the last thing he did.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, the Hatake eye-smiled at his students. "Looks like I have two special students. Both of you have two elements. For the rest of the week, we will work on controlling your element, and I will teach you jutsus you can use. Get ready." Kakashi dismissed them for the rest of the day.

There wasn't much time left, anyway. He couldn't teach them much. But tomorrow they were going to be on overload.

Kakashi Hatake looked up at the sky. _'For some weird reason, I have this strange feeling that those two will be very powerful. More powerful than the Sannin, or the Fourth Hokage. I also have a feeling they will be very important to the ninja world someday. And it's my duty to help lead them there.'_

Sighing, wondering what the future held, the leader of Team 7 walked back inside to join the others, pushing the matter deep into the recesses of his mind.

* * *

Alright peeps! Hope you enjoyed, and I will hopefully see you tomorrow night! Don't forget to review! Bye!


	18. Chapter 17: Week Four and Parting

Sup peeps. I'm kinda tired tonight. Even if I am a night owl. ;) And it doesn't exactly help that I'm only starting this chapter at like 22:50. (That's 24-hour, so in the repeating 12-hour, 10:50 pm.) But I'll get it done, for you guys. I actually was going to skip it tonight, but I checked my email by chance, and I saw the review Fire Dolphin gave me. And that's really the only reason I'm doing this right now. I was reminded of your guys's faithfulness and everything. And I'm getting kind of sappy now, but thank you for being so supportive, everyone. I really appreciate it. I at first put this fanfiction up to see if anybody would like it. I didn't think anyone would. But now here we are, and I've got a story on my hands with close to over 80 reviews. (Hint, hint.) I'm going to miss you guys.

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I own Naruto, sadly, I don't.

~Before you came into my life I missed you so bad. I missed you so, so bad.~

Call Me Maybe

Carly Rae Jespen

* * *

The rest of week three at the 'super mega hard' training place in the middle of nowhere went pretty well. Both Sasuke and Naru took to their elements like fish to water. Naru had to hold back with her water abilities, though, so the other two wouldn't get suspicious.

Kakashi taught them a couple jutsus they could use, and promised to eventually teach them harder ones. He didn't have very many water jutsus for Naru, in spite of his Uchiha eye, because Wind was rare in Konoha.

Either way, all three members of Team 7 felt that it was a good week, and both the students had made a lot of progress.

They had also bonded more and grown as a family. Kakashi was becoming more and more like a father to the two genin, and to Kakashi, his 'cute little students' were like his own kids. Sasuke and Naru had already felt kind of like brother and sister, and the tentative bond had only strengthened in the time spent at the training place.

It was a weird family, but a family nonetheless. Naru pretty much took care of what in her mind were 'her boys'. She made breakfast and dinner for them, took care of their injuries, those kinds of things.

The boys made sure to obey her, because otherwise Naru would come and get them. Neither really knew what that meant when she said it, but they were smart enough to know that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good for them.

And in return, her boys protected her as much as they could. Even if there wasn't much to protect her from at the training place. Naru appreciated the gesture anyways.

The week was gone in a flash, taking Sunday with it. Naru was a little reluctant to see it pass by, but the sooner these four weeks were over, the sooner she could go to see Neji.

She missed him so much. Every night she looked at his picture on her bedside table before going to bed. Naru often wondered what he was doing, and if he missed her.

Before she knew it, Monday had arrived, and like clockwork, she had woken up on time to sit with Ibiki. Stalling to stay in the comfort of her warm sheets a little longer, Naru sat up with her back against the headboard.

She realized today was the beginning of the last week. They would be here until Sunday, and on Monday morning the group of six would head back to Konoha.

Naru screamed into her pillow with a mixture of emotions. Giddiness, impatience, frustration, and excitement were only a few emotions she felt.

It was the review/test week. But she had no idea how it was going to work. Naru assumed the first three days were going to be a review of every week. Each week would equal one day. Then each day there would be one test for each week. And after that, Sunday.

Deciding she had procrastinated long enough, and that Ibiki was probably waiting for his coffee, Naru got out of bed. She quickly slipped on her ninja clothes and took a brush from one of her dresser drawers.

Naru sleepily padded down the hall, trying to drag the brush through her hair, yawn, and stretch all at the same time. It didn't really work.

She made Ibiki's coffee, strong and black how he liked it, and set it down on the usual table. Ibiki was sitting on the couch as usual, reading the paper. Naru sat down next to him and tried to stay awake by raking the brush through her hair painfully instead of taking it bit by bit.

Despite her valiant efforts, she was drifting off into sleep again. Naru yawned and falling asleep even though she was sitting up, she slumped into Ibiki's side. Ibiki looked in surprise at the young ninja.

Her hair was half lion's mane, half normal. He smiled and shook his head. Ibiki took the brush from her relaxed hand and began trying to brush her lion's mane out.

Soon enough, her hair was entirely normal-looking. Ibiki set the brush next to his coffee before picking up the cup and taking a sip of the hot beverage. Perfect. Just how he liked it.

He had risen earlier than Naru and stayed up very late last night. He was an experienced ninja, of course, and theoretically could stay awake for as long as he wanted. With caffeine and other things to help him.

But when a ninja could catch a break, he would willingly take it. And that's exactly what Ibiki did. He set down the newspaper next to the steaming coffee and leaned back into the couch. It was softer than he had imagined.

Just like Naru, he drifted off into sleep's sweet embrace.

And that was how the others found them, half an hour later. Ibiki was actually looking relaxed for once, his arm around Naru's shoulders. Naru was sleeping on his side, her face the picture of serenity.

Anko snorted at how far her colleague had fallen. Gai was whisper-yelling at how youthful the two of them were. Kakashi and Sasuke were trying to figure out how this could have happened. Naru and Ibiki didn't seem very close to each other, just a distant relationship. Obviously there was much more.

Not romantic, at all, but more of a familial bond. Like brother and sister.

Needless to say, all four were very surprised.

* * *

Hinata had finally been able to get away from her team duties at the same time as Neji. Their plans for Wednesday hadn't worked out, as Neji was suddenly called in just before they were going to leave.

Now it was Monday, and Hinata was trying to mercilessly pry all kinds of information out of Neji about his secret girlfriend.

The questions asked were things like, "What's her favorite color? How old is she? Is she a ninja? What's her favorite gemstone? Her hair color? Her eye color?"

Neji answered some of her questions, like that her favorite color was blue, and her favorite gemstone was a sapphire. But he refused to answer questions about if she was a ninja, or what she looked like.

The duo strolled into the busy streets of Konoha. There were many merchants calling out what they had for sale, kids running up and down the roads, people talking and laughing and bargaining.

Hinata led Neji through the busy area expertly. She headed to a shop that sold jewelry, especially things like engagement and wedding rings. Obviously, they didn't want either of those just yet, but there might be a few promise rings.

Hinata pushed open the door to the shop, making a little bell tinkle. "Welcome to my store, kids. How may I help you?" came from a woman in her mid-age, probably around forty or fifty.

Seeing that Neji wasn't about to start talking, Hinata spoke up. "My cousin here has a girlfriend that he's very committed to. He wants to marry her someday," at this Neji's cheeks became tinged with a slight pink, "but they're too young. So instead, he wants to give her a promise ring. Do you have any here?"

The woman was slightly surprised. "Yes, we do have some, but people rarely ask for them. They always want to get married as soon as possible." Turning to Neji, she declared, "I think you're doing the right thing here. Giving her a promise ring is the perfect way to say that you're committed. And waiting to get married a for little while gives you more time to get to know each other without fear that one of you will leave."

Nodding her head in approval, the shopkeeper led them towards the back. She peered into one of the display cases and took out a shelf of rings. "These are all our promise rings. You can go and take a look up close. Feel free to pick them up to examine them closer. Just don't steal them, because I have a way of knowing if you did or not. If you need me, I'll be in the front of the store." With that, she backed away, not wanting to get in their way.

Hinata descended upon the rings with determination. She looked them all over, and deciding that they were made with real materials, she gave the all-clear to Neji. "These are all the real deal," she said. "Take a look."

Neji nodded and moved forward, Hinata looking over his shoulder. He didn't speak because he was so nervous that he wouldn't pick the right one. He knew if he tried to say something, it would come out in a squeak.

And that would be very un-Hyuuga like. As well as un-manly.

There were a total of fifteen rings. Not very many, but they were good quality rings.

Five of the rings Neji rejected immediately. They were too fancy. Naru would hate something like that. She just wasn't that kind of girl.

The other ten rings looked alright. Neji wanted a ring that had the silvery color of the moon. Six more rings were discarded because they were gold. That left him four to choose from.

Hinata's fingers were twitching as she watched her cousin's eyes dart back and forth over the rings. She couldn't tell which he liked and which he didn't.

Neji knew that Naru's favorite gemstone was sapphire, because it reminded her of the water they both could control and dance on so effortlessly. He looked for rings that had a sapphire on it.

That left him two rings. One of them had a thin band that held the sapphire between the ends of the silver, which weren't connected at the top. It had a color close to the moon, but not quite.

The other ring was a simple design. The band was a little thicker, and it had one sapphire at the top, imbedded in the silver. It was a perfect circle. The silver was the exact color of how the moon looked when they danced. The gem was the precise color of the water they danced on at night. It reminded him of their lake.

Neji picked up the two rings and showed them to Hinata. "I've narrowed them down to these two," he said. "Which do you think is better?"

He was pretty sure he liked the ring with the wider band, but he wanted a woman's opinion before he made a decision.

Hinata was surprised at the rings Neji chose. She was expecting a gold one with a diamond or something fancier. But for some reason he chose simpler rings. They were beautiful in their own way as well.

She scrutinized the rings, taking in every last minute detail. Taking her time, she eventually decided. "I like the ring with the wider band, and the sapphire that's a perfect circle." She told Neji.

Neji's face unclouded with relief. "I liked that one, too, but I wanted your opinion first." He placed the thinner ring back on the shelf.

"You wanted my opinion?" Hinata asked, a little surprised.

Neji glanced over at her. "Of course. I trust you, and your thoughts matter to me."

Hinata hid a small smile. "Let's go find the shopkeeper and pay for this."

* * *

Ibiki and Naru had been woken by the other four ninjas in the house. Both were embarrassed to have been caught by their teachers/colleagues, but by the time everyone was outside, they had forgotten all about the incident. Everybody was too focused.

"Alright, my cute students, listen up! This week is probably the most crucial of all. You have to do very well if we want to stay together as a team. If you don't pass this, I'll be released of my duties as your sensei, and you two will most likely be transferred to other teams. Today will be your review with Gai. You will go over…well…whatever you learned with him in that week. Tomorrow you review weapons with Anko and Ibiki, and the day after tomorrow, you two will be reviewing elements with me," Kakashi said, and paused before continuing.

"After the reviews, you will take tests in those same orders. These are tests the shinobi council composed based off the information we gave them. All will be physical. Results will be given on Sunday. Any questions?" The Hatake finished up.

Both 'cute students' shook their heads.

"Great. Good luck, kids." And with that, Kakashi, Ibiki and Anko all went back inside, leaving Naruto and Sasuke with Gai.

Monday went pretty smoothly. They were a little sore afterwards, but not nearly as bad as when they went through the week with Gai.

Tuesday was easy for both. Sasuke and Naru were naturals at their weapons, and after going over grips, footwork, and other things, they felt they were ready for their test.

Wednesday was the easiest. Kakashi's cute students loved their elements, and thus excelled at them. They went over jutsus, but that was about it.

Thursday was the day of the first test.

The entire shinobi council had come out to the house to give them their physical test.

They all watched while Naru and Sasuke demonstrated their speed, fast punches, leg kicks, and how they knew a lot of workout techniques like pushups and situps. And they could do many of them, fast.

Both felt pretty good about that test.

Friday was day two testing. Weapons.

Naru and Sasuke gave the council evil grins learned from Anko. The entire council was freaked out, but tried not to show it.

Sasuke and Naru were made to spar, show footwork, and grips on their respective weapons. After they were done with that test, the landscape was pretty beat up.

Saturday was the last test. Both Naru and Sasuke were glad that it was almost over. The tests weren't difficult, but it would be a relief to know they had done well and could stay together as a team.

The council showed up again, this time a little doubtful. It was VERY rare, if it had ever been done, to teach genins elemental jutsu, unless they were of clan descent.

Naru and Sasuke blew them away. When each told the council they had two elements, the shinobis were snickering, obviously not believing them.

Then Naru showed off both of her elements. And Sasuke showed them his. That shut the council up real quick.

And when they showed just how much natural talent they had with it, several swore that they were watching two of Konoha's most talented ninja. And that they were going to be great.

On Sunday, the results came before dinner. Naru had just finished setting out the plates of spaghetti and meatballs when someone knocked on the door.

Not wanting to bother anyone else with opening the door, Naru wiped her messy hands on her apron. She left her hair up in a messy bun, with some parts of her hair sticking out. Somehow the look suited her.

Opening the door, in front of her stood Kiba. "Naru?!" the Inuzuka exclaimed.

"Kiba? What are you doing here?" she asked, equally as shocked.

"I was told by my mom to give this to whoever lived here. And to say it was from the shinobi council." He handed over a white envelope to her.

"Thank you. Do you want to stay for dinner? I made enough for one more, and it's a little ways until you reach Konoha again." Naru invited.

"Sure, thanks." He followed her inside.

Closing the door behind him, walked into the house a bit more and yelled, "Anko, Ibiki, Gai, boys! We have a guest! And it's time for dinner!"

Within a minute, all the seats that had bowls of spaghetti were occupied, except for Naru's.

"Sasuke, you remember Kiba, right? Everyone else, this is Kiba, one of our old classmates. Kiba, this is Ibiki, Kakashi, Sasuke and I's sensei, Anko, and Gai." She continued, pointing to each in turn. "Please don't ask why or how or when or anything like that. It'd take too long to explain. Here, you can have that bowl of food. I'll be right back."

Naru left to get another bowl of spaghetti for herself. Then she pulled up a chair next to Kiba and tossed the envelope casually in the center of the table. Everyone was already done, since it was her wonderfood. Kiba was wondering how her food was so good, and how she knew these people, but kept his mouth shut.

Naru smirked at everyone else in the house. "That is Sasuke and I's test results." She said leisurely, gesturing at the envelope.

The four senseis and her teammate stared at her, then at each other. All at once everybody except Kiba and Naru dove for the envelope. The weight of four grown adults and one teen made the table collapse.

Naru stood up with her hands on her hips. "Boys, clean this up right now," she said to Kakashi and Sasuke. Both nodded with their heads down. "Anko, Gai, pick up the chairs that were knocked over, please. Ibiki, since you have the letter, read us the results."

Ibiki nodded and scanned the message. "Okay, so a lot of it is boring nonsense, but it basically says you guys passed with flying colors." Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naru began cheering. Sasuke accidentally pushed Kakashi onto the table again, making spaghetti his new mask.

"BOYS! What did I say about roughhousing at the dinner table, especially when there are guests?!" Naru yelled at them, Ibiki, Anko, and Gai laughing at how much they were whipped, and Kiba wondering in confusion what was going on.

Naru turned to Kiba apologetically. "Maybe you should go, Kiba. I'm so sorry for my boys. They're always like this. I hope you liked my food."

Kiba nodded, slightly freaked out by Naru's group of people. "Yeah, that might be best. I loved your spaghetti, though. If you wanted you could open your own restaurant!" Naru showed him to the door, and waved goodbye as he left.

"Well, now we're an official team," she muttered. "But I worry about my sanity now."

Sighing, she made her way to the dining hall to face the music.

* * *

The next day, the house was impeccable. Naru made sure that any damage anyone had caused to the house was fixed, and packed up everything she had brought along.

She brought her duffel bag to the front door and joined the others. Naru looked around the house one last time. It was a house full of memories. And she was really going to miss that kitchen. But at least she had taken pictures.

Everyone trudged out the front door, a bit reluctant to leave, yet excited to be among civilization again.

There was complete silence on the half hour journey home. No one wanted it to end, but it seemed as though it was inevitable.

The group of seven stood on top of the Hokage mountain. They had taken a different way to get out of the forest.

Kakashi was the first to leave. "Alright, guys, I have to go report to the Hokage on how our trip went. I'll see you all around." With that, he was gone.

Gai went next. "My youthful students, do not be sad. I shall see you again. Work on your youthfulness!"

Anko left third. "Well, I don't really have much to say. I still think you're maggots." She ruffled their hair. "But for some reason I think I'm going to miss you. Keep in touch."

Sasuke went after her. "See you around, Ibiki. Later, 'ru."

Then it was just Ibiki and Naru left. "Hey, kid, don't be a stranger. You're always welcome at my place." Ibiki broke the silence.

"Thanks, Ibiki. I just want you to know that I think of you as an older brother. I'm going to miss our mornings together." Naru said, a little nervous of what he would say.

"I feel the same way. I'll miss you too, lil sis. Anyway, duty calls. See you soon."

And with that, both left and went their separate ways.

* * *

Naru reached home and found a note on her table. It read, 'Meet me tonight. Same place, same time. –Neji'.

Her heart began to beat faster. She was going to see her Neji tonight! After four weeks, his face would be a sight for sore eyes.

After all, isn't there a saying that says, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.'?

* * *

Naru dropped down from her perch in a high tree. Dead in front of her was Neji. He seemed unchanged. Maybe a bit stronger. And…nervous, for some reason.

"Neji!" she cried in relief at seeing him again. She ran to him and gave him a hug. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Naru. You have to tell me everything." He answered.

Naru gave him the whole account of her four week 'trip'. How every teacher had worked them into the ground, how much stronger she had gotten, how she had gotten a new family, and the weird visit with Kiba.

After she was done, she sighed. "So, tell me about your four weeks without me. You gotta have something to tell, right?"

Neji laughed, very nervous. "Well, yes. Most of that time I spent missing you, but there were a few things. You know my cousin, the main branch heir, right?" he asked.

Naru nodded.

"Well, she noticed me when I was deep in thought thinking of you, and she guessed that I had a girlfriend. She doesn't know who you are, what you look like, or if you're a ninja or not, but she knows I have someone as my girlfriend."

"Whoa, you scared me for a minute there, Neji. I thought you had told her everything. And I do want to tell people, but I'm just not ready." Naru said in reply to his news.

"Don't worry, I'm not ready either. I feel the same way. Here's the other thing." Neji stopped there. Both were still standing, so he stepped away from Naru.

He knelt down and produced the ring from a pocket in his clothes. It was in a velvet box. Naru looked at him warily, but with badly-hidden excitement that he could see was barely contained.

"Naru Uzumaki, from the day I met you I felt a connection with you. You made me the happiest boy on earth just by being my best friend. Just by being in my life. I was even happier when you told me you would be my girlfriend. You are my reason to live. I want to give you this promise ring. I don't know when it will happen, but with this ring, I promise I will ask you to be my wife someday. Will you accept my promise?" Neji's words came right from the heart, just expressing his feelings. He opened the box.

Inside lay the silver ring with the sapphire jewel.

Tears were flowing down Naru's face. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Of course I will accept your promise, Neji!"

Relief and joy swept over Neji's entire being. He stood up and placed the ring on her left ring finger. Naru looked over it with happiness.

"Neji, you found the perfect ring. It has the color of the moon and the water of our lake. Thank you so much," Naru wiped her cheeks to erase her happy tears.

Not really thinking about it, and just following her instinct, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. On the lips.

Neji didn't know how to react. One moment, he was giving Naru a promise ring, the next he was being kissed. He closed his eyes and turned himself over to his instincts.

When they finally broke away for need of air, both were grinning like idiots. It had been their first kiss for both of them, and it was amazing. Their cheeks were stained a bright red.

Then the full moon seemed to shine even brighter, and the water in the lake began to almost glow.

Naru glanced at Neji to see if he knew why it was happening, but he mutely shook his head.

Then a soft white glow overtook them. It focused on their joined hands.

"Neji, what's happening?" Naru cried.

"I don't know!" Neji replied, panicking, totally ignoring his Hyuuga upbringing.

Then, just as soon as it had started, the glow disappeared, leaving them unable to move. Then it reappeared, only in the shape of glowing tendrils of white light. It snaked out of their connected hands and up their arms. Eventually both were covered in white light.

Naru looked at Neji, scared, and held his hand tighter. Then she was forced away from him, something compelling her body to move without her consent. "Neji!" she cried. "I can't stop moving!"

Neji couldn't respond. None of the muscles in his body were working. He could only watch.

Naru walked out onto the middle of the glowing lake, so the moonlight hit her. Then she began to change.

Her skin turned from tan to pale white. Her hair stayed the same, but gained streaks of red and silvery-white in it. Her eyes also stayed the same. Naru's clothing turned into a flowing white dress, with a strange swirling symbol on it.

Then her transformation was complete, but her body still wasn't her own. She couldn't move.

Neji felt his body moving towards the light as well. The same thing happened to him.

His skin turned as white as Naru's, almost as white as snow. The tips of his hair turned the same silvery-white as Naru's streaks. His clothing turned into white dress pants, with a matching white undershirt and jacket.

After Neji transformed, there was a short pause, and there was no sound.

Everything went black.

* * *

Okay, hope you enjoyed! Stayed up until 1:45 finishing this thing! It's like a thousand more words than my longest chapter! And I couldn't help it, I had to leave a cliffie. Otherwise you guys might lose interest 'cause I'm gonna be gone for so long. And if you're confused, go back and read the prologue. Minato's thoughts might explain a bit, if you can connect it. Man, I'm going to miss you all so much. I love hearing your opinions and everything. It's going to be kinda weird. But I hope you all enjoyed this, and I'll be back at the latest July 28. Most likely before that. And I know if I don't stop now, I'll keep rambling on for a while yet, so yeah.

Love you all,

HydraDrawer


	19. Chapter 18: Waking Up

Hey peeps! It's so good to be back! I missed you all! Been a while, huh? It's kind of weird, but in a good way of course. I looked at my email probably the second week I was gone, and I was totally astonished. My inbox was like flooded! Moon Dancers went from like 80 reviews to 101! You guys are the best. And now, on to the story that I so evilly left you hanging with a cliff hanger thingie. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, thanks to Hope You Will Always Stay for the song. Love it! The music video was really sweet, too.

Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love.~

All About Us

Owl City

* * *

Naru opened her eyes, but everything was blurry. She moved her hand in front of her face. Her vision slowly focused in, but something was wrong with her hand. It couldn't be hers, it was too pale.

Naru flexed her fingers and rolled her wrist. Somehow, this was her hand. It was back in her control.

She slowly sat up and noticed she had been laying on the water. Thank goodness for weird water powers. Looking around, she saw Neji lying on the water as well, out cold.

Naru scrambled on her hands and knees to him, making sure he was okay. After checking his breathing and confirming he had a pulse, she began to notice some changes.

His skin was so pale, it could almost be compared to snow. It was very close to matching the blank white pallor of his new clothes. Some of his dark brown hair was splayed out behind him, as it had come out of its normal binding, and Naru noticed that the tips of his hair were a weird silvery-white color.

Kind of like the moon. While she held his hair between her fingers, some of her own locks fell over her shoulder.

Naru glared at the offending hair before gasping. Most of the hair was the normal blonde color it had always been, but a part of it was red. Pulling the rest of her hair over her shoulder to examine it, Naru found that there were more red streaks in her hair, and some silvery-white as well.

The whitish streaks were the same color as Neji's. Her skin tone was the same, too. And what was up with her dress, anyways? And the weird symbol?

Naru raised an eyebrow at the still sleeping Neji and frowned. Why did he get to sleep while she discovered their changes?

She poked him in the forehead. "Neji, you lazy Hyuuga, wake up, something's happened." Naru said to him.

Neji aroused quickly at her touch, and stared at her in astonishment. "What happened to you?" he asked. "What happened to me?" was his second question, glancing down at himself.

Naru rolled her eyes. "Obviously, our hair and skin and clothes changed. And it's still dark out, so not much time must have passed since we blacked out. Plus, the moon's in pretty much the same position."

Neji nodded, taking in the information. "Right. I have no idea what just occurred, but I have a feeling we can find the answer in that underground library of yours. You do still remember how to get around underground, right? Especially since you were gone so long and we haven't really been using the passageways much at all. We should use them more."

Naru agreed. "Yeah, we should. Anyways, I think you're right. There must be something on our changes. But it might take awhile. If I remember correctly, there are a ton of books in that library. We need a way to hide our changes until then, but I don't know anything we could do."

Neji sighed. "I can't think of anything either. But there must be something. I have training tomorrow. After all, it is a weekday."

Naru frowned. "I believe I have the day off tomorrow, since I just got back, but after that it's right back to missions and all that jazz. We need some kind of cover for you especially. Tonight, preferably."

The two fell into silence. Thinking some more, the fragments of an idea came to Naru's mind. "Neji, I'm not sure if there is something, but it's worth a shot. You know my sealing? Maybe there's some kind of seal I can do that will change you back to normal, at least for tomorrow. Let's go back to my apartment and I'll look in my book."

She stood up and offered Neji her hand. Smirking, Neji took it. "Let's go," he said. A second later, there was nothing. No trace of them or what had occurred whatsoever. It was as if they had never existed in the first place.

Fitting for Moon Dancers, the mysterious ghosts of Konoha.

* * *

Arriving at Naru's apartment doorstep, Naru unlocked the door and stepped in, Neji following at her heels. She flipped the light switch, and when light flooded her cozy abode, she realized just how pale they both were.

It was unnerving.

Naru walked into the kitchen and spotted her seal book lying on the table. She sat down and began leafing through it, muttering to herself.

Knowing that Naru always became immersed in her own world when it involved seals, Neji made himself at home.

He heated up some leftover teriyaki chicken and made some herbal tea. It would calm the two of them down.

Neji set a cup of the tea in front of Naru before sitting down next to her. She looked up at him briefly and gave him a smile, but returned to her book, sipping her tea.

After about two and a half hours, when Neji was just about falling asleep, feeling warm with chicken, tea, and having Naru in his presence, the girl herself stood up unexpectedly. She knocked over some of her tea accidentally, and had the decency to look a little sheepish, but that expression was quickly overrode with excitement.

"Neji!" she crowed. "I think I found just the thing! If I get this right, it'll hide our changes for the next _week_!"

Neji smiled at her, letting hope seep into his system. "Are you sure it's safe and everything?"

"Yes!" she said with a _duh, _look on her face. "Or at least, I'm sure it's our only chance. I don't have time to make a seal myself, plus I don't know much about creating seals so I know that would be dangerous."

Her boyfriend nodded, a mixture of anxiety and anticipation replacing his hope. "How does it work?"

"I need a little of your blood, not much, don't worry, and some ink. Then I mix it together and draw the seal on the back of your neck. Once I push the right amount of chakra into the seal, then it'll activate the disguise. All I have to do is imagine you how you were before, and the seal will…well, not change, but I guess hide your new features." Naru explained to him. "It's really simple. And I should probably draw the seal now, because you have to get home. It's getting early."

She snorted at the ridiculousness of her last statement. "Okay, do you want me to get your blood, or do you want to do it yourself?" Naru asked, holding up a blade.

"Let me do it," Neji said. He took the blade from her. Preparing himself mentally for the pain, Nei slid it across his palm, feeling the warm substance ooze from his self-inflicted wound.

Naru expertly collected the blood, allowing it to drip into a container holding ink. Once enough had been gathered, she set down the container and carefully bandaged his palm.

"Okay, thanks, Neji. The worst part is now officially over. Can you like, slide your hair over your shoulder or something so I can get to your neck?" She asked, while stirring the blood-and-ink concoction.

Neji did as she said, and stared slightly at his hand and hair. He had forgotten, for a short time, how pale he was, and that his hair now had silver in it as well as brown.

Naru had him go down on his knees, so she could reach his neck more easily, and dipped her right index finger in the bloody ink. She stole one more glance at her book before touching ink to skin.

Neji shuddered once the cold ink landed on his skin, but got used to the weird cold feeling as Naru dragged her finger back and forth on his neck.

She was done fairly soon, and blew on the ink to make it dry faster. When she deemed it dry, Naru placed her right hand on the seal, and her left hand on top.

"Okay, Neji, this may feel a little weird, but don't worry about it, alright? Just relax." Naru began pumping chakra into the seal, at first only a trickle but increasing the amount as time passed.

Then she felt a click, and knew the seal had enough chakra to power it. She slowly removed her hands and backed away a step or two.

"Neji, I'm done. Can you look at me?" Neji stood up and turned around.

"I don't feel any different," he said. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

Naru rolled her eyes. "Of course it's going to work. Who do you think I am?" She paused. "Never mind, don't answer that. Just look at your hands. Color is already starting to come back to your skin. And the silver in your hair is turning brown as well."

Neji looked down, and sure enough, his hands were steadily becoming a more normal color. His hair was back to its regular brown color.

Neji grinned at Naru. "You're amazing, Naru. This is working perfectly. But what about you? You need this seal as well."

Naru looked down at herself. "I'll put it on later, I promise. But my new look is kind of growing on me. Yours too. Now we actually look like how the story describes us."

She took a tendril of silver hair in her pale fingers and examined it closely before staring back up at him again. "Now we actually look like the so-called mysterious people who dance in the moonlight."

Naru grinned at him, and the way the light of the moon hit her face made her look almost…ethereal. "Now we're actually Moon Dancers."

Naru released the strand of hair she had been holding and lost her smile. "C'mon, you should go home. The last thing we want is for people asking questions like, where's Neji, the Hyuuga prodigy who seems to be in the wrong branch?"

Naru began pushing Neji towards the door, and he let her. "I'll look in the library tomorrow, and I'll put on my seal. Don't worry, okay? We'll find something on what happened tonight."

At this point, Neji had been shoved out the door and Naru was standing in the doorway, leaning on the wall. Neji gave a tired smile to Naru. "Alright, I won't worry, but I will be thinking of you tomorrow, Naru."

As he turned around to leave, Naru grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him to her. "Night, Neji. Thank you for the ring. I'm going to hold you to that promise." Naru whispered softly in his ears, having to stand on her tiptoes because he was so tall.

Neji stood stock still, and heard the door close and be locked. Then he gave a small smirk before he disappeared.

Neji had his hands full with Naru, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Yay! Even though it's like less than an hour to the 29th of July, just like I promised, I'm giving this to you on the 28th. Booyah! Hope you all enjoyed, and don't forget to review! And sorry for this really short chapter compared to the last one, but I guess I wanted to save the rest for the next chapter, cause otherwise I would have delivered this on the 30th, and I always try to keep my promises to the best of my ability. Oh yeah, and thank you to everyone who stayed with me these past four weeks. It means a lot to me. Anyways, bye!


	20. Chapter 19: Hard Work!

Hey peeps! Is it weird that I start every chapter like that? Eh, it works. Anyway, I don't have much to say so…yeah. Thanks goes to everyone who's shown their support. It means a lot.

~Would you let me see beneath your beautiful? Would you let me see beneath your perfect?~

Beneath Your Beautiful

Labrinth (feat. Emeli Sande)

* * *

Naru blinked. Sun shone in her room through the window. Feeling some hair on her cheek, she raised her hand to brush it away.

When her pale skin came into view, Naru sighed. How was she supposed to fix this? Stupid mysterious thing that made people turn different colors.

Padding into the kitchen, Naru grabbed a simple breakfast bar and immediately went to work. Her mission for today was to find a seal or jutsu that could hide her and Neji's new looks. And find an explanation for why it had even happened in the first place.

Taking one look at the giant book in front of her, Naru slouched in her chair. Munching on her breakfast bar and opening the book, she steeled herself for a day of studying. Not her forte.

The hours flew by as Naru looked at seal after seal, the patterns and words swirling into confusion. Finally Naru slammed the book in frustration. This was getting her nowhere fast, and her stomach was growling. She decided to go out to eat for once, maybe at Ichiraku's.

Once she got dressed in her normal clothes, Naru headed to the front door and froze. Hair. Skin.

"Argh! Again, stupid mysterious thing that makes people turn different colors! Why me? And Neji?" Naru yelled, not caring if anybody heard her.

She looked up the instructions for the seal she used on Neji last night. Grabbing a kunai, Naru sliced her palm and collected the required amount of blood.

Mixing it with the ink, she reviewed the pattern once again. This was going to be tricky. The art of sealing was very precise, and while she had gotten fairly good at it, Naru had pretty much no occasion of trying to do a seal correctly in the mirror.

But, strange was her life, and Naru knew by now just to deal with it. And so, she was in the bathroom, palm red, hands black with ink, drawing on the back of her neck.

Yep, just another day in the life of Naru Uzumaki.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Naru finally got something close to the original, and felt that that was as good as it was ever going to get.

She waited for the ink to dry, not daring to use a hairdryer in case the forceful hot air moved the wet substance around.

While she not so patiently waited, Naru tied her hair up, cleaned and bandaged her palm, and wiped off her messy hands.

An eternity of time passed, and the ink was finally dry. Naru pressed her hands to the back of her neck and began pushing chakra in. A loose strand of red hair came down and fell in her face.

Naru felt nothing happening, but as she focused on the chakra flow, she noticed the red hair turn back into her signature blonde. Once she felt the seal start to reject the chakra because it was full, she let her hands come into her vision. Perfectly tanned.

Turning around in the mirror, it looked as though nothing had happened last night. Like it was all a dream.

Naru knew better, though.

Once again, Naru went to the front door, and this time walked out. Turning around and locking the door, Naru took a deep breath of fresh air.

Yeah, this could work. She strolled leisurely through Konoha, taking her time and seeing the beauty of it. For some reason, she appreciated that kind of thing more now.

If Naru could get over having a monster in her gut, she could get over having a pretty much new body. Maybe she would even learn to like it.

* * *

"Naru! So good to see you! It's been awhile!" Old Man Ichiraku yelled.

"It's good to see you too! Can I have like ten medium bowls of miso ramen?" Naru yelled back.

"Sure thing!" Ichiraku yelled again. Within fifteen minutes, ten bowls of hot ramen were sitting in front of Naru. She could have died happily right there.

Ichiraku was busy with other customers as well, so he couldn't pay attention, but Naru knew he was happy she was there. As soon as she scarfed down the bowls of heaven, Naru gave her money to Ayame, with the promise to visit again soon.

Walking away with a full stomach and a warm heart, Naru took a turn from the main road to venture down an alley. It led to one of many underground passages.

Once underground, Naru tried to remember how to get to the library. She took many twists and turns. There seemed to be no pattern for the walkways. Finally stumbling across the door, Naru opened it and turned on the single light available.

In front of her laid too many books to count. Sighing, she began to work her way through it all.

The hours passed by, and Naru had had no luck. She wasn't looking for techniques to conceal themselves, but an answer for why the changes had happened in the first place.

Naru had remembered their old trick with water. Early in their relationship, Naru and Neji had used their shared talent with water to transform their looks. However, it was distracting, and the water was difficult to maintain constantly.

So, she decided to simply use the current seal she had found instead of wasting time looking for another solution.

But now Naru couldn't find anything on changes that occurred under the moon. There was simply nothing. Nothing under Hyuuga, nothing under forbidden jutsus or seals, nothing under enemy techniques.

She just drew a blank.

And Naru could feel it was nighttime by her internal clock. All ninjas seemed to have that sense of time.

At the point of desperation, Naru tried one last thing before giving up for the night. She decided to look up Uzumaki.

Of course, the books were sorted alphabetically, with books that started with A at the front of the room and books that started with Z at the back. Thus, Naru had to fight her way through heavy tomes and slim paperbacks.

By the time she reached U, Naru as covered in dust from books that hadn't been opened in years.

Her wavering determination was rejuvenated by the sight of U all around her, and she made her way a little farther to Uzumaki.

Naru ran her finger across the spines of books, muttering their names as she went. "Why can't I find it?" Naru wondered out loud as she slid her finger across the space where Uzumaki should be.

She sighed, sitting down in frustration. This was useless. Naru leaned back against a pile of books and closed her eyes. A small break couldn't hurt, right?

* * *

Neji had gotten worried when Naru hadn't shown up at the lake. He went to her house at a quarter to one, and when she wasn't there, he really began to get nervous. Where could she possibly be?

Neji paced the sidewalk outside Naru's apartment. What had she been doing yesterday?

She had said something about a library…but which one? The Konoha Library or the Underground Library? Neji groaned, mad at himself for being an idiot. Obviously she went to the Underground Library.

He made his way to the place where they had first found the underground passages. Neji tapped the moon, the fox and the bird accordingly. The wall slid away and allowed him passage.

Neji walked down the halls with a confidence gained from months of practice with Naru. Without that time, he would have no clue where he was going.

He found the library quickly and saw the door was still open, and a light was on. Stepping in the doorway, he saw a small path to the back of the room.

Neji slid sideways to fit in the path. He made slow progress before he came upon Naru. She was curled up on the ground, with books under her head, dead to the world.

Neji gave a big sigh of relief, feeling pressure and worry slide off his shoulders. Only Naru could fall asleep in a small room filled with old dusty books underground. Now that was something strange to think about.

He bent down and picked her up, taking care not to wake her up. Neji looked down to make sure he didn't miss anything important, and saw a thick book with Uzumaki painted across the front cover.

Picking up the book in case Naru wanted it, Neji made his way to the door. He turned off the light and closed the door.

Making his way to Naru's home, Neji enjoyed the feeling of being above ground again. He felt a soft breeze sway his and Naru's hair slightly, and the air was warm.

Neji laid Naru on her bed. He decided not to dress her in her sleeping clothes. He didn't think she would appreciate that much.

On his way out, Neji laid the Uzumaki book on the kitchen table for Naru to look at. He hoped she would like it.

Locking the front door behind him, Neji closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the night air.

The moon shining down on him, Neji leapt away to the Hyuuga compound.

* * *

Okay, I'll admit, not my best work. Sorry. Can't wait to get the story moving again. Hope you all liked. See y'all next week and don't forget to review!


	21. Chapter 20

Hey peeps. I'm really sorry I didn't update last Sunday. Was really busy. And I have some bad news. I've decided to discontinue my story. I would delete my account, so ya'll can just forget about my failure, but unfortunately I can't do that. And I want to continue this, really, but I just can't. I need to focus on my schoolwork, and I believe getting an education is more important than pretty much anything else in my life right now.

So, here's how I meant the story to continue:

I wanted Naru and Neji to figure out that it was Naru's heritage that made them change; and for them to figure out who her father was. Also, I would have had them discover their moon powers. I dunno what those powers would have been, but they'dve had them.

I was going to have the story go probably until when Naru comes back from her training trip with Jiraiya (kind of like in canon) and the truth comes out. The two of them had kept their secret up until then, and no one knew.

Naru would have become good friends with both Haku and Gaara. Haku wouldn't die and Gaara would be one of her closest confidants after she defeated him in the woods.

I think I would have had their relationship stay the same; with the promise ring thing going on, then the night Naru comes back Neji proposes and she accepts, blah blah blah it would have been super cute and 'aww!' tastic.

A month after being back, the village accidentally figures out their secret. Hana had decided to look for the dancers again out of curiosity. And she brought along her little brother, who brought his friends (aka the peeps Neji and Naru's age). They got there before midnight, waited for like half an hour, and bam! Neji shows up. His body turned back into the way it was when he had first transformed, pale white skin, silver tips, etc. Naru shows up, with her streaked hair and skin, they walk onto the water, and begin dancing. The people watching them can't see their faces, so they move closer. And realize it's Neji and Naru. They confront them, N&N explain everything, the peeps are astonished, and tell the whole village.

Neji and Naru go down into history, as the legendary Moon Dancers of Konoha, a tale everybody has heard, even those in other villages. After the village found out, they no longer had to use the seals and they could be seen together.

And I'll leave the rest up to you. Whatever you want to think happened, it's cool with me. And if anybody wants to take up this story or something, be my guest. Just tell me so I can check it out. And maybe say it was my idea. :)

Again, I'm super sorry about this, guys. I know I'm letting down a lot of people here. Ya'll have been amazing. And I really appreciate all the support I've been given. But I think I'm quitting this fanfiction gig forever.

And I guess I never told you all my age, huh? I bet you'll be amazed. 'Cause I'm just that awesome. :p

Just think on this: A twelve-year-old seventh grade student wrote this.

(I am now smirking at your dropped jaws.)

Bye forever,

HydraDrawer


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